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CHARLES E. BOLTON 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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http://www.archive.org/details/travelsineuropeaOObolt 



TRAVELS 

IN EUROPE and AMERICA 



BY 

CHARLES E. BOLTON, M. A. 

Author of ''A Model Village," "A Few Civic Problems 

of Greater Cleveland," ''Modern Sewage 

Disposal," etc. 



Illustrated 



NEW YORK 

V H O M A S Y. C R O W E L L & C O. 

PUBLISHERS 



VA 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Coptca ReoBvED 

COFVWOHT BHTHV 

CLASSi^ XXe. No 

/ oopye. 



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Copyright^ igoj^ 
By Sarah K. Bolton 



PREFACE. 

^ Mr. Bolton had completed the first part of this 

book, the travel in Europe, before his death, Octo- 
ber 23, 1901, and had planned the other chapters of 
travel through this country. 

I have added his two newspaper articles, '' Be- 
yond the Mississippi," and '* The Lone Star State," 
and the greater part of three of his fourteen Illus- 
trated Lectures, " The Lands of the Midnight Sun," 
'' The Yellowstone — Yosemite Wonders," and "The 
Italy of America," (California.) These fourteen illus- 
trated lectures he had delivered in all parts of the 
United States, speaking about two thousand times. 

Though born and educated in the East, he espe- 
cially loved the Great West, with its unsurpassed 
scenery, its energy and hope, and its undoubted 
wonderful future. He had traveled in many coun- 
tries, and saw much good in each, but was glad to 
be an active worker in our own Republic. 

Sarah K. Bolton. 
Cleveland, Ohio. 

June,i903 



\ 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER 










PAGE 


I. 


First trip — Ocean and Ireland . . , i 


II. 


Killarney Lakes and Chester 






. i8 


III. 


Liverpool and London 






42 


IV. 


Scotland 








62 


V. 


Paris 








74 


VI. 


Paris (concluded) 








87 


VII. 


Belgium and Rome 








104 


VIII. 


Second trip — London 








126 


IX. 


En route to Berlin 








154 


X. 


Berlin to St. Petersburg 








175 


XI. 


Russia 








195 


XII. 


Constantinople 








213 


XIII. 


Vienna 








228 


XIV. 


Switzerland 








247 


XV. 


Norway and Sweden 








271 


XVI. 


Beyond the Mississippi . 








299 


XVII. 


Beyond the Mississippi (concluded) 




316 


XVIII. 


The Lone Star State 




338 


XIX. 


Yellowstone— Yosemite Wonders 




345 


XX. 


The Italy of America (California) 




371 


XXI. 


The Italy of America (co 


ncluded 


) 




399 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Balmoral, Summer Home of Queen Victoria, Frontispiece 

Alexandra, Queen of England . . . -36 

Lincoln Cathedral . . . . . .62^ 

Abbotsford, Home of Sir Walter Scott . . . 68 - 

Victor Hugo and His Grandchildren . . -94 

Windermere Lake ..... 146 

Wordsworth's Home at Rydal Mount . . .152 

Grasmere Church, the Site of Wordsworth's Grave . 152 

Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands . . .158 

Four Generations in the German Imperial Family . 170 

A Russian Village . . . . .196 

The Czar and Czarina of Russia . . . 210 

Turks and Their Dogs . . , . . 216 

Turkish Cemetery, Scutari, Asia .... 224 

Elizabeth, Empress of Austria .... 244 

The Lion of Lucerne ..... 266 

Lapps and Reindeer ..... 282 

North Cape . , . . . .288 

Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone Park . . 350 

Old Faithful Geyser . . . . '356 

Upper Falls of the Yellowstone .... 360 

A Big Tree of the Yosemite .... 366 

Mission Garden, Santa Barbara, California . . 376 

Rose Tree, Santa Barbara California . „ , 388 

Mt. Hood, as seen from Portland, Oregon . . 400 

St. Peter's Chapel, Tacoma, Washington . . 406 

Giant Cactus . . . . c . 414 



CHAPTER I. 

FIRST TRIP. OCEAN AND IRELAND. 

What Makes a Man. Hopes Revived. The Mother Is- 
lands. First Trip. Paris Exposition. Places and People. 
Aboard the 5. S. Adriatic, Farewell Sandy Hook. The Offi- 
cers. A Nautical Day. Life at Sea. A " Whale," Stiff 
Breeze. Dangers on the Ocean. Rest, and New Acquaint- 
ances. A Study of Navigation. The Ocean Ferry. " Irish 
Coffins." Perils of Fogs. Panaceas for Seasickness Fail. Fast- 
net Rock. The " Ould Sod " at Queenstown. " Not a Drum 
was Heard." Cork. The Lost Found. 

Francis Bacon said that '' Reading maketh a 
full man, conference a ready man, and writing 
an exact man." And Isaac Watts added that 
'' Nothing tends so much to enlarge the mind as 
traveling." My business had made me familiar 
with my own country, and I was all the more anx- 
ious to see other countries. I had often heard 
the Germans speak so lovingly of their '' Father- 
land." Why should not we of Anglo-Saxon origin 
know more about the Mother Islands whence came 
some of our own immediate ancestors — the British 
Islands, the source of so much of civilizing power 
for the world? 

It is not my purpose, in writing of our five con- 
secutive trips to Europe, and a sixth journey in 



2 TRA VELS. 

1885, to tell much of what can be found in the 
usual guide books, because all that valuable infor- 
mation is more minutely and better told in the 
books themselves. To repeat much of it here 
would be a waste of strength and time. I will try- 
to tell somewhat of the places we visited, the 
people we met, and of our experiences here and 
there. 

The First Trip to Europe, began Sept. 4, 1878. 
On our way to Liverpool Mrs. Bolton and I enjoyed 
a short journey in Ireland, and together we also 
visited many of the most interesting cities and 
localities in England and Scotland. For some days 
we enjoyed Paris, and the Exposition of 1878, and 
thinking that this might be our only trip to Europe 
we seized the opportunity and took a three weeks' 
hurried journey via Belgium and Munich, through 
Italy. 

On Wednesday evening Mrs. Bolton had taken the 
steamboat train at Boston for New York. I met her 
at the New York dock, and we breakfasted at the 
old Astor House on lower Broadway, near the Post 
Office. With alacrity and high hopes we climbed 
up the gangplank of the 5. 5. Adriatic. The com- 
mander was the white-bearded J. W. Jennings. 

Precisely at twelve o'clock, noon, the Adriatic, a 
swift and staunch iron steamship of the famous 
White Star Line, bore us down the bay on our first 
voyage to the Old World. Friends of passengers, 
mindful of the terrible consequences of accidents 
at sea, invariably make the departure, or arrival, 



TRA VELS. 3 

an event not easily forgotten. Thoughtful ones, 
unobserved, had placed in our staterooms lovely 
flowers and delicious fruit. 

As we steamed out of the busy, capacious harbor, 
past the forts, rounded Sandy Hook, parted with 
the pilot, and saw the vessel on her course for 
Liverpool, we reluctantly bade good-bye to New 
York with its wondrous growth, the third city of 
the world, and since that time made the second. 

From the deck we watched the low hills of Jer- 
sey disappear on the smoky horizon, and then went 
below for lunch, served in "true English style. 
Dinner on shipboard is served at six o'clock. Seats 
are assigned from the lists of cabin passengers dis- 
tributed, the white-haired captain and gentlemanly 
purser occupy seats at the heads of long tables, and 
with attentive waiters direct, with military precision, 
the several courses of an excellent meal. 

But more delightful than dinner is the respite 
from business, politics and taxes. On deck, abund- 
ant exercise is found in promenading and quoits, 
and continued amusement in studying the ever- 
varying surface of the sea, and the character of the 
company on shipboard. 

At first, passengers dressed to suit wind and salt 
do not interest, but soon we discover that most 
who venture a three thousand mile ocean voyage, 
possess unusual force of character. 

A Harvard graduate visits London to perfect 
arrangements for exporting Texas cattle. A Man- 
chester cotton spinner depressed with the loss of 



4 TRA VELS. 

his wife, is completing a trip around the world. 
He is accompanied by a young Scotch clergyman, 
who left Edinburgh five years ago, and who estab- 
lished a church of two hundred members in Ran- 
goon, Burmah. A dear mother's constant prayers 
had lately ceased, and the faithful son longed to 
stand by her grave. 

We played chess with a doctor from South 
America, talked finance with a Canadian banker, 
and received the best of advice from a retired Bos- 
ton merchant, who had recently lost over a million 
dollars by endorsements. 

We were also glad to refresh our scanty know- 
ledge of navigation ; examining sailing charts and 
sextants, watching the log thrown every two hours, 
and noting the numerous entries made daily in the 
log book. The method of comparing latitude and 
longitude with passing vessels by flag signals is 
easily learned. 

The officers join in conversation; their bronzed 
and intelligent faces tell of scores of ocean voyages 
and increase our courage. 

The nautical day is divided into watches of four 
hours each, bells striking every half hour. Life at 
sea soon becomes delightful. Prosperous breezes 
fill the sails. The sea air how refreshing! It 
brings color to the cheek, and forgetfulness of the 
things that worry at home. 

New acquaintances are made, and you often 
wonder that you ever hesitated about visiting 
Europe. Acres of porpoises play in the water; and 



TRA VELS. 5 

flying-fish, with fins not unlike the wings of birds, 
skim the waves, sometimes coming on the deck. 
In mid ocean the lynx-eyed officer discovers a 
lonely iceberg, possibly freighted with all the hor- 
rors of a shipwreck. Suddenly we are startled by 
the children's cry, "A whale! a whale!" and lo ! 
in the distance, a spouting whale. In one instance 
a whale lay asleep on the vessel's course, and was 
half cut in two ! 

New experiences come when the wind quickens, 
and the log records, '' a stiff breeze ". No ride can 
possibly match the pleasure of a moonlight tossing 
in a blow. Ozone in the air, electricity along the 
nerves, the throb of the ship's engines beneath 
your feet, and restored vigor pulsating through the 
whole body, your lips instinctively say, *' They that 
go down to the sea in ships, that do business in 
great waters ; these see the works of the Lord, and 
his wonders in the deep." But in winter months 
the scenes change ; monstrous waves envelope the 
steamer, small wire ropes quadruple in size, hundreds 
of tons of ice lodge on the decks; salt water in a 
night freezes twelve inches on the steerage win- 
dows; the officer on the bridge is fastened to the 
rigging, his long beard is heavy with icicles, he 
seems a veritable Santa Claus, and coffee is taken 
every fifteen minutes to keep him alive. Service 
like this is heroic. Sometimes I am asked, '' Is it 
safe to cross the Atlantic?" Since 1845, eighty 
steamers with 5,000 lives have been lost. A half 
dozen vessels and all on board have mysteriously 



O TRA VELS. 

disappeared, and many vessels have been lost by 
fire. 

The cry of, *' Fire ! " on shipboard drives the pas- 
sengers and crew frantic. Brave officers with drawn 
revolvers force courtesy to women and children, as 
the small boats are lowered and filled, while in the 
red glare of the sky is seen written the doom of the 
great steamer. A half dozen or more steamers have 
collided with icebergs, or with each other. Most 
of the ships destroyed, however, have been wrecked 
on American or European rocks, but it is safer to 
cross the Atlantic on these modern palace steamers 
than to ride on our best railways. We must not 
forget that twenty or thirty thousand ocean voya- 
ges have been made, and millions of passengers safely 
landed. After a week's ocean life, you become 
anxious again for land. 

Facts elicited from an inquiry in regard to the 
large fleet comprising the grand ocean ferry between 
the continents, were of interest to us. Mr. Samuel 
Cunard, encouraged by the British Government, 
formed a partnership with Burns & Maclver, whose 
coasting steamers competed between Glasgow and 
Liverpool. Thus was organized the familiarly 
known ''Cunard Company", which, on July 4th, 
1840, began a fortnightly conveyance of mails 
between Liverpool and Boston ; supplanting the 
slow and unreliable sailing vessels. 

Names ending with a, ic, and iam, characterize 
the vessels of the Cunard, the White Star, and the 
Allen lines, respectively ; while the Inman steam- 



TRA VELS. 7 

ships, some of which are palatial, are named after 
the leading cities of the world. 

The steamers comprising the vast Atlantic fleet 
are owned by several companies. They are built 
mostly on the Clyde, and of iron ; can carry from 
one thousand to two thousand passengers and from 
twenty-five hundred to five thousand gross tons of 
freight each. The largest are over six hundred feet 
long, forty-five feet wide and thirty-six feet deep. 
The double compound engines of five thousand 
horse-power, have a capacity equal to that of thirty 
thousand men pulling vigorously at the oars, and 
the possible speed of the vessels is nearly twenty 
miles per hour. The later ocean passenger steam- 
ships have engines of thirty thousand horse power, 
a capacity equal to one hundred and eighty thou- 
sand men. 

The White Star Line combines both speed 
and safety, and is the choice of many Americans. 
The Adriatic, on our trip out, carried 310 souls, 
and 4,400 tons of freight ; which would load 
eleven freight-trains of twenty cars each ; and yet 
she outstripped steamers that had many hours 
the start and gallantly outrode several days of 
equinoctial storm and a furious gale on the Irish 
sea. 

The discipline of officers and crew is perfect, and 
we feared nothing except accident in the dense fogs, 
which baffle the skill of all officers, and where the 
steam-whistle — which is blown at least once every 
minute — is almost the only safeguard. As the fog 



8 TRA VELS. 

supplemented by thick darkness and fierce storm 
increases the perils of navigati'on, the unerring 
compass enhances in value ; and prayers to God for 
safety unconciously escape the lips of many unused 
to such dangers. 

It is at this time that sea-sickness among passen- 
gers holds high carnival. All panaceas fail. To 
obtain fresh air on deck is impossible, as the hatches 
are fastened down. Fruit is tasteless ; flowers lose 
their fragrance ; music is bereft of its charms, and 
kitchen odors become most obnoxious. As the 
sensation creeps slowly but surely upon you, fears 
that you will die take firm possession of your mind ; 
nor can they be shaken off until the disease culmin- 
ates, when your greatest apprehension is that you 
will not die. However, beef tea keeps you alive, 
and strong meat is taken to the faithful captain on 
the bridge, who will not leave his post of duty 
night or day, till all peril is past. 

The White Star vessels built at Belfast, Ireland, 
are called *' Irish coffins " by the jealous Cunarders, 
and yet the most enterprising steamship firms have 
paid these models of beauty that highest of com- 
pliments. Imitation. 

Nine days out of New York we sighted with joy 
the bold Irish coast, and later, the light-house on 
Fastnet Rock. At night all passengers were on 
deck, when a rocket with two green lights sent up 
by the captain, signalled our arrival, to the station 
of the Atlantic cable on shore. Very soon we saw 
a bright rocket in response, and a few seconds 



77?^ VELS, 9 

sufficed to announce in New York the safety of the 
Adriatic. 

It was past midnight when we entered the 
strongly fortified and capacious harbor of Queens- 
town, and the landing brought special joy to a few 
returning Irish people, as they once more touched 
foot on the " ould sod." The morning sun revealed 
the loveliest scenery, and we did not longer wonder 
that Wolfe, the author of '' Not a drum was heard," 
sought this charming spot for the recovery of his 
health, only to die. The town is built on terraces 
and has many pretty cream colored Gothic houses, 
surrounded by well trimmed hedges, and a modern 
unfinished cathedral. 

A few old castles are seen in the distance. The 
fields are full of purple heather and green furze 
with yellow blossoms. Here we first saw the 
modest shamrock, like tiny white clover, the nation- 
al emblem of Ireland. 

St. Patrick, when preaching the Christian faith in 
Ireland, to a simple people and their powerful chief, 
spoke of one God and of the Trinity, and holding 
up the shamrock, bid them behold one in three. 
Both the chief and his followers were baptized. 

Ireland's greatest length is 302 miles, and her 
greatest breadth 225 miles ; her coast line of about 
23,000 miles abounds in deep landlocked harbors ; 
her area is 32,531 square miles, or nearly two-thirds 
that of England without Wales. Three-fifths of 
Ireland's total area is in arable and grassland. 
(1889). The surface of the island, generally speak- 



lO TRAVELS. 

ing, is an undulating plain relieved towards the 
coast by low hills. Carrantual is her loftiest 
peak, 3,414 feet in height. 

Centrally located is an area, of nearly two millions 
of acres, or nearly one-ninth of the island, which 
consists largely of bogs and morasses. These 
have an average depth of twenty feet, and yield for 
the people vast quantities of peat and turf, and for 
the antiquarian numerous skeletons of men and 
animals of by-gone days, also relics of early human 
occupation. 

The authentic history of Ireland begins with the 
life and career of St. Patrick, the *' Apostle of Ire- 
land ", although the early history of Ireland, like 
that of several ancient countries can be traced back 
into the enchanted realms of most beautiful legends, 
fables and ballads. St. Patrick was carried, a slave, 
from Scotland to Ireland. Early in the 5th century, 
having escaped, and risen high in the service of 
the Church at Rome, he returned, converted all 
Ireland, and made the emerald " Isle of Saints " 
the great missionary school for the propagation of 
Christianity throughout Europe. 

Near the close of the eigth century the Danish sea- 
rovers invaded and settled the eastern coast of Ire- 
land, and in time were absorbed into the common 
population. In the reign of Henry II., 1 167-'72, the 
story of the Norman invasion of England was 
repeated again in the experiences of Ireland. Then 
began the great land struggle, which has continued 
to our own times. 



/ 



TRA VELS, 1 1 

For a long while it was a series of fierce struggles 
between Irish Chieftains, and Norman Barons, and 
between Chieftains themselves. Usually the Irish 
were the losers in all these terrible struggles, and 
in the conflicts that followed with Cromwell and 
William III. No wonder, that under the heavy- 
burden of constant struggles in behalf of their relig- 
ion and lands, the Irish on the verge of despair, 
sank into wretched poverty. What exhausting 
indemnities of life, land, and money this race has 
paid for centuries ! 

For the past century the Irish have engaged in a 
heroic struggle for agrarian and religious emancipa- 
tion. No cause ever had braver leaders, than Grat- 
tan, Flood, O'Connell, Emmet, the Parnells and 
Gladstone. Reform and reconstruction are still 
making slow headway, and the sincere wish of most 
Irishmen is for Home Rule finally. 

Ireland is divided into four provinces, Ulster, 
Leinster, Munster, and Connaught, which are again 
sub-divided into thirty-two counties. Her popula- 
tion, which in 1841 was over 8,000,000, by reason of 
famine, emigration and other causes, has been 
reduced almost one-half; nearly 4,000,000 have emi- 
grated to America. Not more than 12 per cent of 
the Irish who remain, speak the Gaelic or Irish 
tongue. 

Thoughtful passengers who expected to land at 
Queenstown, had been studying brief histories of 
the Emerald Isle. How true it is that when you 
travel, you see only what you take with you ! To 



12 TRAVELS. 

understand correctly a country and its people one 
must read much on the subject before the visit is 
made. 

An hour's ride by boat, up the pretty river Lee 
in sight of beautiful country seats, Blackrock and 
Monkstown castles, and the Father Mathew Monu- 
ment, brings us to Cork with its eighty thousand 
inhabitants, the home of Sheridan Knowles the 
dramatist. Two hours in a jaunting car with a 
driver full of blarney, jolted us over most of the 
city, which is largely built on an island of the Lee. 

The Mall and Grand Parade are broad streets, 
and the city park of two hundred and forty acres, 
are great resorts for pleasure seekers. Immense 
breweries and distilleries in Cork have brought 
wealth to the few and poverty to the many. It 
has a large export trade, and manufactures gloves, 
ginghams, ships, beer and whiskey. The Limerick 
gloves made at Cork are very delicate, and are sold 
packed in a walnut shell. The Mardyke walk, a 
mile in length, is beautiful and shady with its fine 
elms and beaches. The sweet music of '' The Bells 
of Shandon" was heard as we left the Imperial 
Hotel for a drive of five miles in an Irish jaunting 
car to Blarney Castle, celebrated in song and story. 

On the spire of the Shandon church is a salmon 
with a ring in its mouth, which forms the coat of 
arms of Cork. In the picturesque bell-tower hang 
the famous chime of bells, of which Rev. Francis 
Mahoney, Father Prout in literature, sang so tune- 
fully: 



TRAVELS. 13 

** With deep affection 
And recollection 
I often think of 
Those Shandon Bells, 
Whose sounds so wild would 
In days of childhood 
Fling round my cradle 
Their magic spells. 

" On this I ponder 
Where'er I wander 
And thus grow fonder 
Sweet Cork of thee ; 
With thy Bells of Shandon, 
That sound so grand on 
The pleasant waters 
Of the River Lee." 

Down at the far end of St. Patrick's Street is a 
stature to the memory of Father Mathew, the Apos- 
tle of Temperance. 

None can so shorten the road with inexhaustible 
wit and humor as the Irish jarvey in the box-seat. 
None can so tickle '' yer honor," as Larry Sullivan 
w^ith his rich brogue, blarney, and his comical ways. 
Larry is a good fellow, hearty, full of fun, and 
knows how to tell most laughable stories. The 
driver, putting his hand on his heart, said : '' Mister, 
I was shot through and through in those Fenian 
troubles ! " 

'' Impossible ! for your heart is under your hand, 
Larry." 

** No, yer honor, my heart in those days was in 
my mouth, and so I escaped." 



14 TRAVELS. 

It is a lovely ride to Blarney Castle, which is 
located amidst 

" The groves of Blarney 
They look so charming." 

The main attraction of Blarney Castle, which was 
built in the 15th century by Cormac M'Carthy, is 
the massive tower, 120 feet high, that contains the 
famous Blarney Stone, which is supposed to endow 
whoever kisses it with most persuasive eloquence, 
and the power to prevail in love. Not every 
visitor has the courage to reach out on the project- 
ing buttress, and kiss this historic stone. Sir Wal- 
ter Scott performed the daring feat, hence, per- 
haps, his skill in poetry and romance. The great 
Lord Dufferin must have kissed this famous stone, 
for he won his sweet Katy, became Viceroy of In- 
dia, and eloquent in diplomacy. 

Father Prout sings of this historic stone. 

'' There is a stone there 
That whoever kisses 
Oh I he never misses 
To grow eloquent. 

'Tis he may clamber 
To a lady's chamber 
Or become a member 
Of Parliament." 

The County of Cork has hill, vale and coast, and 
every variety of landscape for twenty-eight miles to 
Youghal. There you see Sir Walter Raleigh's 



TRA VELS. 1 5 

home and his myrtles, also the garden where he 
raised the first Irish potatoes. At Raleigh's home 
two hundred years ago, this gallant knight of 
Queen Elizabeth, smoked the fragrant weed which 
he brought from Virginia. There he entertained 
Spenser, and together they embarked for England 
to superintend the publication of the '* Faerie 
Queene." 

We made the journey by boat up the charming 
Blackwater, '' The Rhine of Ireland." Stopping at 
the booking-ofifice near the quay, we purchased 
tickets to Cappoghin, and stepped aboard the little 
steamer Fairy. Leaving the quay, the Fairy soon 
steamed under the quaint old wooden bridge that 
connects the counties of Cork and Waterford. This 
bridge rests upon fifty-seven piers, and with its 
causeway is three-fifths of a mile in length. The 
scenery increases in beauty with each mile of the 
journey up the river. In sight are the ruins of 
castles, churches, and of an old Abbey Temple, 
built by the Knights Templar. Yonder on the 
moss-grown rock stands the old fortress of Stran- 
cally, a stronghold of the cruel Desmonds, and not 
far away is the new castle, a fine structure sur- 
rounded by luxuriant woods. 

After passing picturesque islands, the Fairy 
approached the little white town of Cappoghin. 
It lies on the side of a wooden slope, framed by 
forest hills and mountains, that make an exquisite 
background. 

A car was hired to drive four miles to Lismore 



1 6 TRAVELS. 

Castle. The ride taken was on the right bank of the 
Blackwater, over a smooth road, and shaded with 
fine old trees. Nearing Lismore, the climax of 
the journey is reached, as you cross the river and 
enter the oldest town in Ireland. Here was 
located one of Ireland's four Universities. The 
Cathedral was burned in the I2th century after 
sheltering pious people for five hundred years. 
The town was repeatedly invaded by Scandinavians, 
and other marauders. 

The most attractive feature of the village is Lis- 
more Castle which is located on a high rock over- 
hanging the Blackwater. It was founded in 1185 
by the Earl of Mortain, afterwards King John. 
For valuable services Lismore Castle was conferred 
upon Sir Walter Raleigh. It was often besieged, 
burned, and bequeathed, until finally it became the 
property of the Boyles, Earls of Cork. By a 
marriage of a daughter of the Boyles, beautiful 
Lismore Castle descended to the Cavendish fami- 
ly, dukes of Devonshire, who still own it. In 1685 
King James II. visited Lismore Castle. 

At sunset standing on the new stone bridge, we 
gazed with intense delight upon royal Lismore, 
luxuriantly overgrown with moss and ivy. 

" How rich and beautiful ! " we exclaimed as we 
looked with delight upon this charming castle; the 
deep woods, the gray massive walls, the ruined 
towers, and the dark Blackwater in the shadow, 
while the setting sun gilded the near sloping knolls, 
and the purple mountains beyond. 



TRAVELS, 17 

We took train for Killarney, via Mallow, a lovely 
parish on the Blackwater. At Mallow Station 
where we spent the night, Mrs. Bolton left her gold 
watch in her room, but a telegram next day brought 
the watch by first express, and she returned five 
dollars in a postal order. 



CHAPTER 11. 

Killarney Lakes, the Reflex of Heaven, Through Ireland to 
Dublin. Across the Channel to " Rare Old Chester," Eaton 
Hall, Home of the Duke of Westminster. Gladstone and his 
Home. 

The journey was continued to the Lakes of 
Killarney by the Killarney and Tralee Branch. 
Entering the County of Kerry the landscape views 
become more beautiful, and at 6.50 o'clock the 
station at Killarney is reached. A carriage is taken 
for the Royal Victoria Hotel, situated close by the 
waters of the Lower Lake. 

A refreshing night's rest, and an early breakfast 
made us eager to make the circuit of the far-famed 
Lakes. The extreme poverty of the Irish is every- 
where apparent. Many of the very poor follow you 
for money, and good natured urchins, say, " We 
want pennies to buy books." Poor women peddle 
peat with dirty donkeys, which cost ten dollars or 
less. 

Taking the Valentia road west, we leave behind 
a stately cathedral, many pretty cottages, built for 
workmen by Lord Castlerosse, and go past frag- 
ments of a castle, a round tower, and fine country 
seats, and then turning to the left, after four miles 
of ride, we come to the cottage of beautiful Kate 



TRAVELS. 19 

Kearney, " who dwelt by the Lakes of Killarney." 
Here a granddaughter of the celebrated belle offers 
you goat's milk and beer. Several pretty little 
lakes are seen through the foliage in the ride to 
Pike Rock, where the jaunting car stops. 

Thence the tourists, with stout staffs, proceed 
four miles on foot through a wild and narrow pass 
called the Gap of Dunloe, which separates the 
Macgillicuddy Reeks from the Purple Mountain. A 
rapid stream frequently crossed by bridges traverses 
the glen ; above the narrow pathway hang craggy 
cliffs, projecting rocks, and shrubs of fantastic 
shape, while dark ivy and luxuriant heather add 
to the romantic landscape. 

Peasant girls follow visitors through the Gap. 
If all are not ideal Irish beauties, with black hair 
and blue eyes, yet some are comely in looks and 
behavior, and they beg you to buy goat's milk out 
of wooden jugs, or urge you to "Thry a drop of 
mountain dew " — (whiskey) . Others sell pretty 
ornaments, made from the arbutus wood, and bou- 
quets of fresh heather and wild flowers. This route 
leads on through the Coom-a Dhuv, or Black Valley, 
overshadowed by high mountains. These shadows 
deepen, if you chance to encounter a frightful 
storm. It is always wise when you journey on the 
British Isles to provide yourself with water proofs, 
rubbers, and umbrellas, as one moment you enjoy 
the brilliant sun and the next a storm rages. In 
southern Ireland the Atlantic winds drive rain 
clouds over against the mountains and there are 



20 TRA VELS. 

unexpected down pourings, which the Irish call, 
not showers, but "■ O'Donoghue's Blessings ". These 
frequent showers keep the grass soft, green and 
velvet-like. 

At length Brandon's Cottage is reached, where 
the boat sent forward, is in waiting to take us down 
the Lakes and back to the Victoria Hotel. The 
Upper Lake is two and one-half miles in length, 
and contains a dozen islands, all more or less 
covered with fresh arbutus, the fruit of which ripe 
and unripe is often found together on the same 
tree. Blood-red fuchsias climb to the eves and into 
the gables of the little cottages along the shores. 

The Long Range connecting two of the lakes is a 
narrow channel three miles in length, and leads to 
Eagle's Nest, a pyramidal rocky mountain iioo 
feet above the sea. On the high steep crags eagles 
build their nests, and in June of every year, the 
young birds are brought down and reared by hand, 
to prevent the wild eagles from increasing too rap- 
idly. 

The luxury of rest, and the gentle motion on the 
placid waters of the lakes, after the fatigues of the 
Gap of Dunloe, were fully appreciated. What 
variety of beauty we were constantly finding in the 
rich shore foliage, in the sharp reflections of nature 
in the clear waters, and in the cloud shadows mov- 
ing over the lake surface ! 

Opposite the Eagle's Nest the boatman stops to 
sound his bugle; a few short notes, and you hear 
the finest of echoes. All the hills awake, and they 



TRAVELS. • 21 

seem to give back bugle notes with the strength 
and precision of the original blast. An army of 
trumpeters seem to people every mountain peak 
and crag. 

When the cannon in Dunloe Gap is fired the 
mountains are alive with magnificent echoes, as 
though contending armies were battling in the 
clouds. At Roseneath, Scotland, an echo repeats 
perfectly a tune played, and again repeats the tune 
in fainter notes. Near Milan an echo returns the 
sound of a pistol shot sixty times. 

Most travellers think the echo of the Baptistry, 
at Pisa, Italy, the finest in the world. A few short 
notes, and the reply equals a chord on a fine organ, 
and the echo is often repeated. Jerry, the boat- 
man, however, claims that his Eagle's Nest echo is 
the most extraordinary. One fine evening he said 
that he shouted, '' Paddy, how are you ? " and it 
replied, " Very well, thank you." It is generally 
known that echoes, being repetitions of sound, are 
produced by vibrations of the air, which travel in 
wave-like forms, about 1125 feet per second. It is 
essential, if an echo is expected, that the voice or 
other sound shall strike some distant object, which 
acts as a reflector, and returns the sound to the ear 
of the listener. 

The Lakes were full, so the boatman ventured to 
shoot down the rapids through the ancient Weir 
Bridge, built of two stone arches, into the Middle 
Lake. In 1826 Sir Walter Scott admired much 
this romantic ** Tore Lake " as the middle lake is 



22 TRA VELS. 

sometimes called. In a snug little cottage on the 
shore, a lunch, sent from the Victoria Hotel, was 
enjoyed by the party. 

It is a lovely drive thence along the wooded 
shores of the Muckross Peninsula, and beautiful 
demesne, to Muckross Abbey, which is a pictur- 
esque ivy-covered ruin of round Norman arches 
combined with early English pointed arches. In 
the early part of this century a hermit lived for 
several years in the large fireplace of the Abbey 
kitchen ; curious abode, indeed ! In the center of 
its cloister grows a very remarkable yew-tree, and 
in the grave yard close by are buried several Kings 
of Munster, and members of the famous O'Dono- 
ghue and M'Carthy families. The return to the 
Victoria Hotel was made via Ross Castle, 
the ancient seat of the renowned O'Donoghue. 
Ross Castle is a part of the estate of Lord 
Kenmare. Back in 1652 it held out against the 
English, and it was the last castle to surrender to 
Cromwell. 

The surface of the broad waters of the Lower 
Lake is broken by thirty lovely islands. Some 
travellers have thought this lake the most beauti- 
ful, the Middle Lake the most picturesque, and the 
Upper Lake the most sublime. 

Innisfallen is the favorite island. Here are beau- 
tiful glades and lawns, fringed with arbutus and 
other trees, enclosing flowering shrubs. 

Tradition tells us that David, an ancient King of 
Ireland, adopted for his arms the harp of Israel's 



77?^ VELS. 23 

Sweet Psalmist, hence, the triangular harp with its 
beauty of tone, became the emblem of the Emerald 
Isle. A siren, who sang under the sea, often met 
on the white sands at eve a youth whom she loved 
in vain. Finally heaven took pity on the sea- 
maiden, and changed her graceful body into a harp, 
and her long black hair that floated in the winds, 
into the chords; hence the harp's two-fold music, 
rich tones, and soft tones that sadden into the 
tender language of love. 

After the usual early breakfast, we went en route 
by the Great Southern & Western Railway to 
Dublin, the metropolis of Ireland, which is located 
186 miles to the Northeast. 

Lord Macaulay wrote '' that Ireland possesses a 
natural fertility of soil superior to any area of equal 
size in Europe." In favorable seasons the crop of 
Raleigh potatoes equals two-third the crop grown 
in the United States. Many millions of horses, 
mules, cattle and sheep, find rich pasturage on the 
hillsides and in the valleys of Ireland. So mild is 
the climate of Ireland that many plants grow which 
are not found even in England. No wonder that 
this island, kept fresh and green by the prevalence 
of great moisture, is called the Emerald Isle. 

All the routes to Dublin abound in pretty pic- 
tures of lakes, rivers, sea views, valleys and moun- 
tains, an ever-changing and splendid panorama. 
Clever guides relate some myth or legend about 
each old castle, ruin, or famous round tower. The 
fairies people every spot, the Banshee follow every 



24 TRA VELS. 

old family. Phookas and Cluricaunes are spoken 
of in every lonely glen, and as you journey 

" A spirit world encircles thee, 
The genii are not fled." 

The traditions and superstitions of the Emerald 
Isle are rich in romance. En route, near Buttevant, 
you see Kilcolman Castle, where Spenser wrote his 
" Faerie Queene," and at Kilmallock the Desmonds 
had their residence. 

Next the County of Limerick is entered, where 
the police-barrack was attacked by the Fenians. 
Eight miles further to the left, on the Rock of 
Cashel is the celebrated group of ruins, castles, 
cathedral and round tower, the site of the palace of 
the Kings of Munster. Very little, however, is 
known of its ancient history, or of its kings. Several 
old abbeys and castles are passed on the journey to 
Maryborough, fifty-one miles out of Dublin. Fur- 
ther on the railway crosses the famous Curragh of 
Kildare, the Newmarket of Ireland, where twice a 
year horse races are held. The River Liffey is now 
crossed, and you see the Hill of Allen which rises 
300 feet out of the great Bog of Allen. This hill 
was probably the scene of Ossian's poems. 

Ten miles from Dublin, at Hazel-hatch, is pointed 
out a bower of laurels in the grounds of the Cel- 
bridge Abbey, where the celebrated Dean Swift 
frequently conversed with Esther Vanhomrigh, the 
original of his poem *' Cadenus and Vanessa." 
Another of those strange round towers, of which so 



TRAVELS. 25 

little is known, is seen as the Express pulls into 
Dublin. It was after two o'clock, and a good 
lunch, was fully appreciated. 

Dublin is of great antiquity, dating back to the 
first or second century. It boasts to-day a popu- 
lation of over three hundred thousand inhabitants. 

As we stood on Carlisle bridge, which spans the 
Liffey, a fine panorama spread out before us. In 
front lay magnificent Sackville Street where in 
favorable weather, may be seen some of the best 
dressed, and handsomest men and women in the 
world. 

On this wide thoroughfare also, may be seen the 
fine Doric column erected to the memory of 
Lord Nelson, hero of Trafalgar, who gave his right 
eye, his right arm, and finally his life for his country. 
The statue at the top of the stately column presents 
Nelson with sword in hand. Horatio Nelson, one 
of the greatest of naval heroes, aboard his flag ship 
and in full view of the combined fleets of France, 
and Spain, Oct. 21st, 1805, gave to the breeze and 
to his brave fleet that historic command, *' England 
expects every man will do his duty." 

As victory perched upon the top-gallant-masts of 
his ships, Horatio Nelson dying, repeatedly said^ 
"Thank God, \ have done my duty." On each 
anniversary of the hero's death, the Union Jack is 
hung from the capital of this superb monument. 

The fine building on the left with Ionic portico is 
the Post Office. A tourist once asked his jarvey 
whom the three statues on the Post Office, Hiber- 



26 TRA VELS. 

nia, Mercury and Fidelity, represented ? The jarvey 
with easy confidence replied, " Them's the Twelve 
Apostles, Sir." 

The tourist, thinking to catch Jerry napping, 
said, *' Twelve Apostles, why, there are only three 
statues up there.'' 

" True, your honor," retorted Jerry, *' you 
would'nt have all the Twelve Apostles out in the 
cold to wonst, would you ? The rest of them are 
inside the Post Office sorting the letters." 

The black Liffey runs through the central part of 
Dublin, and for several miles along its banks are 
built substantial granite quays with handsome 
balustrades, and in sight loom up a forest of 
masts. 

The next morning we drove to Dublin Castle, 
erected in 1220 by the English to secure the city. 
Thence westerly we rode up the Liffey to beautiful 
Phoenix Park, 1750 acres, where were seen the 
Chief Secretary's house, Wellington's Monument, 
205 feet high, and many red-coated soldiers drilling. 
It is said that English drill sergeants instruct their 
soldiers, when on furlough in cities, to walk and 
stand erect as if they owned the world. 

Trinity College, founded in 1591, has a Grecian 
front of over 300 feet, and several fine buildings 
occupy three quadrangles on College Green. The 
four Courts, and Custom House in sight are also 
beautiful structures. The most elegant building in 
Dublin is the Bank of Ireland. It was built in 
1739, in Ionic style of architecture, for the Irish 



TRA VELS, 27 

Parliament. Here ambitious Flood, patriotic Grat- 
tan, young Curran, and other great orators often 
spoke earnestly in behalf of Ireland. Here, after a 
series of hot debates in 1780, joined in by Sir John 
Parnell and Henry Grattan, much broken in health, 
a bill abolishing the Irish Parliament, and merging 
it in that of Great Britain at Westminster, was 
finally adopted by the Irish House of Commons by 
a vote of 153 to 88. To accomplish this forced 
Union, it is claimed that from twenty-five hundred 
to seventy-five hundred dollars were paid for a single 
seat, and some even assert, that eighty-five seats 
cost Great Britain ten millions. Opponents were 
bribed with titles, judgeships, pensions, and army 
commissions. 

Ireland exercised mighty power in Europe, both 
before and after the birth of Christ. After Ireland 
had been ruled for centuries by a Christian nation, 
we now saw the superb homes of a few rich Barons 
and Lords surrounded by the thatched cottages of 
the poor ; their floors often of dirt, no linen on their 
tables, though Ulster made linen for the world, and 
their clothes and food of the simplest kind. The 
Irishman in his rags and wretchedness is unsub- 
dued, though he is forced annually to pay millions 
of imperial and local taxes, aud sixty millions and 
more of rent to the seven hundred landlords, mostly 
absentees, who own half of Ireland. 

A Lord-Lieutenant, appointed by each succes- 
sive British Ministry, with a salary of one hundred 
thousand dollars, resides in Dublin Castle. With 



2S TRA VELS. 

the assistance of ten thousand constabulary poh'ce 
the Viceroy keeps the Island loyal to the Crown. 

The people in the north of Ireland are educated 
and enterprising and love the Queen ; while in the 
south, ignorance and poverty abound, and Fenian 
sentiments are kept in abeyance only by a plentiful 
show of bayonets. The more intelligent Irishmen 
admit that England furnishes a better government 
probably than would exist if her rule should cease. 
Many of those who denounce the injustice of Great 
Britain in permitting a few English conquerors to 
hold the lands, will, on emigrating to America, 
cling to the filth of back streets in our cities rather 
than accept as a gift i6o acres of rich government 
land. 

The Irish scattered round the world are embit- 
tered by these conditions. Robert Emmet elo- 
quently said, " When Ireland takes her place among 
the nations of the earth, then, and not till then, let 
my epitaph be written." 

A nation that can produce such a noble band of 
statesmen, poets and heroes, as O'Connell, Moore, 
and Emmet, seem thoroughly capable of self-gov- 
ernment. Why not Home Rule for Ireland? If 
Canada can make laws for Canadians, why cannot 
Ireland legislate for the Irish ? 

Rarely has a struggling people had as leader, a 
man of clearer head, and better political judgment, 
than the late Charles Stewart Parnell, who de- 
scended from the Earl of Warwick, famous in his- 
tory as the " King maker." Parnell was born in 



TRA VELS. 29 

1846, from noble parentage. On the Irish side the 
family had been remarkable for generations. His 
mother was the daughter of the commander of the 
old American frigate, Constitution^ which captured 
several British vessels in 1812. A Protestant, he 
was educated at Cambridge University, and entered 
Parliament at twenty-nine. He organized the Na- 
tional League, and came to the United States in 
1880 to collect funds. 

The House of Representatives was placed at his 
disposal for a great meeting. He was chosen Presi- 
dent of the Home Rule party in 1881. For incit- 
ing tenants to refrain from paying rent he was 
arrested. With consummate skill, he often led to 
victory his eighty-six Parliamentary companions, 
and many of the Conservatives, and Liberals as 
well, though his opponents outnumbered him five 
to one. Had Parnell lived, he might, perhaps, by 
wise planning have made Ireland a self-ruled nation 
like one of our states and that without bloodshed. 

From Dublin we took an early passage on a 
North Wall express steamer, and enjoyed the ride 
of 70 miles, across the Irish Channel, arriving at 
2 : 30 P. M. at Holyhead, Wales. The scenery at 
Holyhead and across the Island of Anglesey, is wild 
and rugged. 

In entering England, we placed ourselves under 
the guardianship of St. George, England's Patron 
Saint. Percy, in one of his old ballads, tells us that 
St. George was born at Coventry, and that in man- 
hood, after fighting the Saracens, he went to Lybia, 



30 TRA VELS. 

where he found a stagnant lake infested with a 
huge dragon. Every day a virgin tied to a stake, 
was sacrificed to the dragon, and left to be devoured. 
At length it came to the lot of Sabra, the king's 
daughter to be thus sacrificed. St. George vowed 
to protect the royal maiden, and thrust his lance 
into the dragon's mouth and killed it on the spot. 
Then in triumph he carried Sabra, the king's 
daughter to England and married her. 

The London & North Western Railway, furnishes 
excellent accommodations for sight-seers. This 
is the popular route between Queenstown and Lon- 
don, via Dublin, which is taken every year by 
thousands of Americans. It is also the standard 
railway between the great cities of the British Isles. 

The magnitude of this Company's operations 
may be better understood, when it is recalled 
that it has a capital of $595,000,000 and an annual 
revenue of $60,000,000. It operates 2,700 miles 
of road, and conveys yearly upwards of fifty 
million passengers, and forty million tons of 
freight and minerals. It employs over 50,000 
people. It owns 2,650 engines ; 7,250 passengers 
cars; 58,000 freight cars, 19 steamers, and 3,600 
horses. On its main system four steel tracks 
are in constant use. The Line is worked through- 
out on the Block system. There are 32,000 
signal levers in operation, and 17,000 signal lamps 
lighted every night. The whole road, including 
tunnels, bridges, viaducts and stations is admir- 
ably built. 



TRAVELS. 31 

The safety of passengers is always the foremost 
consideration. The policy of the management is 
constructive of values and dividends, and not 
destructive. The productive English policy also 
has continuity of purpose, hence, most British rail- 
way shares are held by investors in high esteem. 

The Menai Straits are situated an hour's ride east 
of Holyhead, and are spanned by Stephenson's 
famous Britannia Tubular Bridge, loi feet above 
high water. The two larger spans are 450 feet each, 
and the whole structure cost over three million dol- 
lars. From the roof of this bridge one gets an epi- 
tome of much that is great in nature and in the 
works of man. 

Bangor close by, is an old city, and a favorite 
summer resort. Nine miles further east we were 
delighted with historic Carnarvon. The castle was 
built by Edward I. about 1283, and is one of the 
noblest ruins in all Great Britain. The walls, seven 
feet in thickness, the thirteen massive towers, and 
much of the interior, remain as in olden times. 

A few miles further on Roman ruins begin to 
appear. At Conway we examined with much 
interest the gateways, walls and towers of this 
most ancient town. Here Edward I. erected 
another of those old castle-fortresses, which is grand 
even in its decay. Hawthorne says of Conway Cas- 
tle, '* Nothing so perfect in its own style when it 
was first built, and now nothing else can be so per- 
fect as a picture of ivy-grown peaceful ruin." 

After a refreshing rest at Conway, we were anx- 



32 TRAVELS. 

ious to reach rare old Chester, one of the chief 
military stations of the Romans in Britain. Arriv- 
ing at the fine railway station we were driven 
through the East gate of the old walls to the quaint, 
but artistic Grosvenor Hotel. 

The Romans called Chester, " Civitas Legionum," 
the " City of the Legions." Chester is a good 
entrance to the England of one's dreams. The 
city is fifteen miles south of Liverpool, and was 
actually built into the rock on the north bank of 
the River Dee. Chester is not only one of the 
most curious cities of the British Isles, but she 
stands peerless and alone, as an enduring and 
martial relic of the past. Here the ancient Britons 
dwelt in rude huts, and Druid priests offered human 
sacrifices to the sun. Their rude huts, walls of 
defense, crude altars and temples all vanished like a 
dream before the triumphant advance of the Roman 
Eagles. 

Phoenix-like, under the protection of Caesar's 
Twentieth Legion in distant Chester, rose massive 
walls, pagan temple, noble statues, and the forum 
and other elements of civilization, all proudly 
fostered by imperial Rome. 

Afterwards Chester was a favorite resort of 
Anglo-Saxon monarchs. Here were established the 
camp and court of a nephew of William the Con- 
queror; later Chester became the key to the sub- 
jugation and union of Wales with the English 
Crown. 

The walls, which to-day form a circuit of two 



TRA VELS. 33 

miles, afford a delightful promenade around Chester. 
After visiting the old castle, we passed along the 
wall promenade, till we came to a lofty flight of 
stone steps, called the ''Wishing Steps." Accord- 
ing to folk-lore, " he shall have his fondest wish 
fulfilled, though it be the gold of Ophir, or even 
Paradise itself, if, making the wish at the foot of 
the steps, he shall run to the top, down to the 
bottom, and again to the top of these steps without 
taking breath." We soon discovered the secret, 
that the feat could not be accomplished without 
taking breath a half dozen times. 

The views of Chester in this circuitous and ele- 
vated walk are replete with interest. Over the 
elevated portal of Phoenix Tower you read " King 
Charles stood on this tower, September 27, 1645 
and saw his army defeated on Rowton Moor." 
The fiery Puritans, or grim soldiers of Cromwell's 
army put to flight the gallant cavaliers of Charles 
I., and within three years the masked executioner in 
front of the Palace of Whitehall in London, severed 
at one blow the King's head from his body. 

On both sides of the principal streets that cross 
each other at right angles in the central part of 
walled Chester are located the famous picturesque 
" Rows." These rows consist of double arcades of 
shops or stores, one above the other, in front of 
many of the business houses of the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries. Some of the arcades are 
possibly of an earlier date, and some of the most 
artistic fronts are of recent design. 



34 TRA VELS. 

These facades are built in the half-timbered style, 
and from the level of the *'Rows" to the apex of 
the gables are exhibited a profusion of quaint and 
grotesque carvings and ornaments that never fail to 
delight. In storm or sunshine the high level and 
lower arcades attract a merry throng of shoppers 
and sight seers. 

When we returned to the hotel, we found a note 

from an English friend, Mr. H , a graduate of 

Cambridge University, whom we had met in Amer- 
ica. He invited us to dine with him at six o'clock, 
and said that he should be pleased at two o'clock to 
give us a ride, and that he would call again at the 
Hotel at one o'clock for an answer. Of course these 
kind invitations were accepted. 

Promptly at two o'clock Mr. H and his pretty 

sister, Cecil, were at the Grosvenor. His sister was 
modest and vivacious. Cecil was a junior at col- 
lege, having just finished her second year at Girton, 

Cambridge. Mr. H drove to the classic River 

Dee. Soon we were off in a gaily-decked Chester 
barge for far-famed Eaton Hall, leaving behind 
ancient Chester, and the Queen's park villas bright 
with red tiled roofs. The Royals, a Chester boat 
crew, and once declared champions of the Isis and 
the Thames, went whizzing by under the watchful 
care of a trainer. 

Lovely villas line both banks, and now the barge 
stops for an inspection of the pretty village of 
Eccleston, owned by the Marquis of Westminster, 
every house in the village a picture, as all are 



TRAVELS. 35 

draped in woodbine, and adorned with evergreens 
and fragrant gardens. The red sandstone church is 
a model of a village sanctuary. Above the altar is 
Westall's grand painting, Joseph of Aramathea 
begging the body of Jesus from Pilate. 

The Dee is the "Druid Stream of Deva " whose 
source is in Wales, whence as a modest rivulet it 
elbows its way through many a rocky dell and 
chasm, and winding through Llangollen, " that 
sweetest of vales," it sweeps along zig-zag until it 
empties into the Irish Sea. 

The friendly barge was parted with at the new 

iron bridge ; here we were met by Mr. H 's team, 

and the road along the park was taken, " T'wixt 
avenues of proud ancestral trees," till we came to 
the western entrance of Eaton Hall, the princely 
seat of the Marquis of Westminster. 

At Eaton Hall for many generations has lived the 
noble house of Grosvenor, a family that traces its 
lineage to the Norman Conquest, and which is one 
of the richest in the kingdom. Quite recently the 
daughter of the Marquis married a son of the Duke 
and Duchess of Teck, cousins of Queen Victoria. 

Eaton Hall, Gothic in design, nearly 500 feet in 
length, is built of white free stone, and is a model 
of all that is rich and elegant in architecture. The 
whole structure with its many embattled parapets, 
its crocketed pinnacles, sculptured niches, and its 
windows of gorgeous tracery, savors more of a 
palace in the Court of Fairies than of the home of 
a practical English nobleman. 



3 6 TRAVELS. 

Mr. H presented his ticket of admission at 

the door, and the usher forthwith brought the party 
into the entrance hall. The entrance itself is two 
^ stories in height ; the floors are of the richest and 
rarest tesselated marble ; one less than forty-feet 
square cost the owner ten 'thousand dollars. The 
groined ceiling is relieved with the heraldic devices 
and arms of the Grosvenors. Suspended is an ex- 
quisite chandelier. All about are elaborate Gothic 
screens, chimney pieces and niches, filled with war- 
riors clad in belted mail. 

This grand entrance hall prepares one for the 
splendor beyond. Beneath an arch you pass along 
the Great Corridor, a picture gallery 500 feet in 
length, to the Domestic Chapel, where events in 
the life of our Lord are seen recorded in stained 
glass, in painting, and in stone. 

The banqueting room is a combination of deli- 
cate tracery in the ceiling, with walls of maroon 
and gold. Paintings and statuary by famous art- 
ists, immense mirrors, and three handsome mahog- 
ony sideboards add their beauty. The library and 
the drawing room are spacious and elegant, the 
walls being hung with rich damask. Paintings, 
supcb vases and works of art are on every hand. 
In the library stands a carved mahogony organ, 
and oaken cases filled with the treasures of ancient 
and modern literature. 

In the State Bed-Room is shown the carved 
mahogony state-bed, where Her Majesty of Eng- 
land, and other distinguished personages have 




ALEXANDRA, QUEEN OF ENGLAND. 



TRAVELS, 37 

rested. The Salon is a superb room, and above its 
octagonal walls rises a splendid dome, which is rich 
and chaste in decorative art. You never tire of the 
fretwork of crimson, blue and gold mosaic on the 
walls, that reminds one of the Ambassador's Court 
in the Alhambra. The private rooms of Lord and 
Lady Westminster are not exhibited to strangers. 
The scenes within Eaton Hall are rivalled only by 
the views without ; the verdant terraces, lawns, gar- 
dens, fairy lake, groves, the crystal conservatory, 
statuary and fountains, and Roman altar dedicated 
to the Nymphs. 

We drove for two miles through the grandest of 
parks, and left Eaton Hall by the Grosvenor Gate. 
By half past five o'clock we had reached the pretty 
country seat of the H 's. 

Unfortunately, young H 's father and mother 

were absent spending a few days at the charming 
Welsh watering place, Llandudno, so the duties 
of entertaining us fell upon his sister, Cecil. When 
she had given orders for dinner, Cecil and her 
brother piloted their American friends over their 
own lovely grounds. Ancient elms and oaks stood 
all about the home, and here and there over the 
estate of a thousand acres, wherever they would 
lend desirable shade and beauty„ 

Mr. H said that his father was very proud 

of his lawn, his broad grass lands, his thorough-bred 
sheep, and Hereford and Jersey cows. The group- 
ing of these animals cropping the rich pasturage 
reminded one of the life that is so often depicted in 



38 TRAVELS. 

the English landscape painting. Across a deep 
ravine, and through the opening of the trees were 
seen large beds of azalias and luxuriant roses. 

Mr. H the owner of this estate sold drugs 

in early life. For him it was a hum-drum kind 
of existence, as early and late he obeyed the beck 
of many patrons, and prepared and labelled pre- 
scriptions. What mattered, if he sold a farthing's 
worth of medicine for a shilling, clearing big profits 
on a small trade ? At best it was a tiresome busi- 
ness for one of his energy, so he resolved to make 
a fortune in some other way. 

One day he mixed with mortar pestle a com- 
pound of potash and other substances, put it up 
in paper packages, told the people by means of 
advertising of its wonderful cleansing property, and 
lo, he had discovered the secret of money-making. 
As he grew rich, he gave generously. At a great 
religious conference in England, when an amend- 
ment was made to a resolution to reduce the five 
thousand pounds proposed for church extension, 
he rose and modestly said, " Mr. Chairman, I was 
about to move an amendment to the original resolu- 
tion, increasing the five thousand pounds to twenty- 
five thousand pounds." " Hear! Hear! " the good 
people shouted, and his amendment prevailing, he 
subscribed the additional twenty thousand pounds, 
or one hundred thousand dollars. 

Cecil H and her brother had invited a few 

pleasant friends to meet us after the dinner. Cecil 
poured delicious tea from an India urn, kept warm 



TEA VELS. 39 

under a brightly colored " cosey," and she added 
Jersey cream, and sugar from spoons of unique 

design that told of foreign travel. Mr. H had 

himself wired to Liverpool for the sweets, and the 
large strawberries had been gathered fresh from 
their own garden. An Englishman's home is his 
castle, and once welcomed, the visitor is the recipi- 
ent of much hospitality. The breakfast over next 

morning Mr. H took his friends by train to 

Hawarden, Gladstone's estate of nine thousand 
acres just across the boundary in Wales. The 
walls and tower of Hawarden are castellated and 
vine clad. The adjacent grounds are adorned with 
oaks, limes, elms, shrubbery and flowers. The 

H s and their friends were cordially welcomed 

by Mr. Gladstone, who fortunately was at home. 
He looked remarkably well for one of his great age. 

He talked with young H about his late trip 

to America and the tariff and silver questions in 
the United States. He never monopolizes the con- 
versation, though a great talker. While the party 
stood looking at Millais' full length painting of the 
great Englishman that hangs in the library above 
Mr. Gladstone's desk, his faithful wife entered. 
She was tall, had regular features, abundance of 
gray hair, dark blue eyes, and seemed very amiable. 

Mr. Gladstone's library has three windows, two 
fireplaces, and the four walls are built up with book- 
cases, that contain more than ten thousand vol- 
umes. Over alcoves devoted to Homer, Virgil, 
Shakespeare and others, are busts of these authors. 



40 TRA VELS. 

One table is for letter writing, one for literary work, 
a third is devoted to politics and theology. Mr. 
Gladstone often reads the morning lesson in his 
son's church near by. Mr. Gladstone put on his 
hat, took his cane, and invited all to join him in a 
walk among the historic oaks of Hawarden. 

Suddenly he stopped, and pointing to a great oak 
freshly cut said that it always pained him to slay 
these sensible English giants, but that he needed 
the exercise, and perhaps these oaks were long ago 
weary of the slow progress made by humanity. 

The Right Hon. William Ewart Gladstone is a 
leader on most great topics. Pure, noble, of untir- 
ing energy, his great capacity for successful work 
makes him a genuis of high order. He says " The 
19th century is the century of the workingmen." 
Gladstone started as a Conservative in politics, 
Disraeli, a Liberal. Each changed his views, and 
each came to be Premier of Great Britain. Glad- 
stone entered Parliament when he was twenty-three 
years old. He was thrice appointed Premier, and 
he has given a half century to public life. He is a 
wonderful financier, opposed to war, an eloquent 
speaker, and a far seeing diplomat. He dared to 
grapple with the Irish question, and to propose 
Home Rule measures, that have challenged the 
attention and admiration of humanity. 

In his family are eight children. Two of his sons 
have been elected to Parliament. A lady once 
went to John Bright to inquire about Gladstone, 
and Mr. Bright said, " Madam, have you children?" 



TRAVELS, 41 

" Yes," replied the woman. 

"■ Well, then, take them to see Mr. Gladstone, for 
I consider him the greatest man England ever pro- 
duced." 



CHAPTER IIL 

Liverpool, '* City of Siiips and Sailors." Charles Sumner, 
and an English Fox Hunt. Laird Brothers of Alabama Fame. 
A Yankee Habit. Laugh on the Englishmen. The Vale 
Royal. Dressed in Red Coats. The " Meet." An Eleven 
o'clock Breakfast. The Fox's Tail, or " Brush." The Prince 
of Wales. The " Toy Shop of the World." Coventry to 
Stratford-on-Avon. Chatsworth, Home of Duke of Devon- 
shire. A Genuine Duke. Enormous Rentals. London the 
World's Metropolis. Bank of England. Sight from an 
Omnibus. Oxford and Cambridge. James Watt. British 
Industries. Darby, Neilson, Cort and Bessemer. British In- 
ventors. Great Britain vs. the United States. 

Liverpool, the commercial city of the world, 
stands in the centre of the British Isles, 210 miles 
northwest from London, on sloping red sandstone, 
which has been three times tunneled for over a mile 
that railways may come to tide water on the 
Mersey. 

The very high and low tides have necessited the 
construction of miles of extensive granite docks, 
which cost $100,000,000. Liverpool is the port of 
entry for the vast shipments of cotton that go to 
Manchester, 31 miles north, and elsewhere. These 
comparatively modern cities have a half million 
inhabitants each, and many elegant public build- 
ings. In and around Manchester are a thousand 



TRA VELS, 43 

cotton factories which run 20,000,000 spindles or 
more, with an annual product of over $300,000,000 
of goods. 

Great Britain owns or controls half the world's 
commerce, and her sails whiten every sea. The 
output of tonnage in a single year by one of her 
many ship-building firms surpassed the entire ton- 
nage of the famous Spanish Armada. Emerson 
understood English power, when he said at a 
banquet, given in Liverpool in his honor, *' England 
has the pulse of a cannon." 

The Liverpool Exchange, built in Italian Gothic 
style, occupies three sides of a square, and here vast 
quantities of American cotton are bought and sold. 
Beneath a great dome may be found the leading 
journals of the world, and in a neighboring library 
the latest books and magazines. Thus by aid of 
press and cables the Englishman keeps constantly 
advised as to the world's events. 

The British Isles are very wealthy. It is esti- 
mated that the British capital employed outside 
the United Kingdom is $10,000,000,000 or more, 
yielding an annual revenue of more that $600,000, 
000. The annual export trade is $8,000,000 more. 

Like Belgium, the British Isles abound in fine 
town-halls, of modern architecture, which give proof 
of their great wealth, as the superb town-halls of 
Belgium to-day record the remarkable prosperity 
of that little kingdom in mediaeval times. The 
classic and immense city-halls of Liverpool, Man- 
chester, Birmingham and other cities reflect great 



44 TRA VELS. 

credit upon the good taste of the British. The old 
and new as revealed in Chester and Liverpool teach 
valuable lessons. 

But the beautiful outlook over Shakespeare's 
'' Precious Isle set in a sea of silver " is sadly 
marred, when we reflect, that four hundred persons 
own one-half of the English soil. Single individuals 
of the nobility and gentry, living in palatial homes 
each own many thousands of acres, while all about 
them are millions of laborers whom poverty pinches. 

These evils of great wealth and great poverty, 
originated under William the Conqueror, who 
divided the lands among his faithful followers, and 
under James I., when by fixed laws the law of 
entail was securely fastened upon the people, and 
titles of property and distinction descended from 
generation to generation. 

The Englishman seems often to a casual visitor or 
observer a little brusque. John Bull is a very busy 
man, and he naturally is jealous of his moments and 
money. Time is money to these great traders of 
the world. 

The story is told of a Yankee who once asked an 
Englishman, who was travelling in America, '* How 
he liked the States?" 

** Very well, indeed," he answered. Then he 
added, " But I fancy you have little aristocracy in 
America.." 

" Aristocracy ! " responded the Yankee, " What 
do you mean by aristocracy ? " 

"Aristocracy, don't you know, is the backbone of 



TRAVELS. 45 

the British Kingdom. Our rich people are supposed 
never to do any work. Our fathers and grand- 
fathers lived on their incomes." 

" Oh ; yes," replied the Yankee, " I understand 
you now ; in America we call those who never 
work, tramps." 

Having read Charles Sumner's vivid description 
of an English fox hunt, we left Liverpool early for 
Worlaston, 30 miles away, the appointed *' meet " 
of the Cheshire fox club. Aboard the train we 
were introduced to the Laird Bros., builders of the 
Alabama, and others to the manner born. One of 
the party said, *' Is it true that you Americans are 
desirous of adopting our form of government, hav- 
ing tired of republicanism ? " " No, sir," we replied, 
"you must have been misinformed." "Doubtless," 
he said, " for it is a lamentable fact that we English- 
men know much less of America, than you Ameri- 
cans do of our country. But come, tell us of your 
glorious free institutions, especially as illustrated in 
the recent government of New York ! " * To which 
we answered, " Having been born in Massachusetts 
you cannot expect a Yankee to answer a question 
without first asking one. We are aware that Eng- 
land being Mistress of the Seas, has become the 
Merchant of the World ; that your gigantic com- 
mercial transactions exceed ours four times ; and 
that this is accomplished with ninty-five per cent 
credit, and only five per cent cash, which astonishes 
Americans. Be kind enough, sir, first to explain your 

* The Tweed Ring. 



46 TRA VELS. 

own banking system, especially as illustrated by the 
operations of The Glasgow Bank with its recent 
loss of $30,000,000 and six directors in jail, as per 
statements in to-day's papers ? " Of course the 
gallant Englishman joined heartily with his com- 
rades in laughter, but at his own expense, and 
offered us the choice of his thorough-breds at the 
hunt. 

We ride thro gh lovely Cheshire county, called 
the Vale Royal of England, and long celebrated 
for its excellent cheese, 20,000 tons of which are 
sent to London, and stop at Worlaston station. 
Near by is the '' meet " at the hospitable country- 
seat of a wealthy India merchant. At 11 o'clock we 
partake of an English brealcfast. At 12 nearly loo 
Viave gathered ; the noblemen and gentry neatly 
dressed in red coats, white leathern breeches and 
white top boots ; the clergymen and women in 
simple black. The beautiful thorough-bred horses 
were brought here from stables all over the country. 

The hunter, assisted by two whippers-in, sudden- 
ly enters the grounds with a hundred hounds, all of 
a size, and cleanly washed. Both horses and dogs 
seem conscious of their importance ; the latter re- 
sponding each to his name. The horses, when 
mounted in front of an English ivy-covered home, 
surrounded by evergreens artistically planted, make 
a bright and unique picture. Soon we reach a 
neighboring " cover," or small forest ; a motley 
crowd, for the hunt is always attended by friends 
of the club, and farmers with their boys. 



TRA VELS. 47 

The fox's hole is stopped the night before. The 
hundred hunters are stationed on two sides, the 
eager hounds sent into the underbrush on the 
third, while the fourth side of the wood is left open 
for the fox. The hounds, once on the trail, make 
quick search and suddenly master fox darts out 
across the green fields. The huntsman urges his 
hounds with the cry of " Tally-ho," and sounds the 
horn to rally the gay riders to their sport. Away 
they go at break-neck speed, the women at the 
very front, through the bushes and mud, over 
hedges and fences, across ditches and brooks, 
straight through the country, twenty miles or more, 
stopping for neither ploughed fields nor woods, 
rain nor snow, till the chase is ended, and the 
" brush " or fox's tail won, which is usually given to 
a lady if near at hand. 

Great Britain boasts 300 clubs composed of 
20,000 members, who ride four days per week dur- 
ing the season of four months from the middle of 
November on. The expense of keeping some packs 
is $25,000 per year. 

This sport is the most democratic institution in 
England ; is open free to anybody who dares take 
the ride, and will protect the hounds The farmer 
rides with the Prince of Wales himself, if he chances 
to have as good a steed. It is not surprising that 
English cavalry is the best in the world. 

Half way to London is Birmingham, the ''world's 
toy shop," with its half million people. Along the 
route the car windows constantly framed the loveli- 



4B TRA VELS. 

est of English landscapes. Luxuriant crops and 
pasturage on either side of the railway are enclosed 
by ditches and green hedges, the latter of hawthorn 
and holley, sometimes white with blossoms or red 
with berries. The plows of many generations have 
softened the skylines of adjacent hills. The syca- 
more, lime and elm trees are rich in foliage. Pretty 
Southdown sheep and red and white cattle give 
animation and beauty to the swiftly receding pic- 
tures. 

Before reaching Birmingham a venerable gentle- 
man and lady entered the coach, and soon it was 
discovered that they were the Bishop and wife of 
an important diocese in England. They were 
charming people, and in their short ride imparted 
interesting information. Passing a fine old cathe- 
dral of three tall spires, the Bishop said, " You 
should stop and see Lichfield and its characteristic 
cathedral, and the school where several famous men 
were educated." The West window is very fine, and 
the fagade is richly adorned with triple arcades of 
niches in which are statues of twenty-five kings, 
and many judges and prophets. Lichfield Cathe- 
dral is a good example of the richly decorated style 
of the architecture of the 13th and 14th centuries. 
The central porch is not easily surpassed in its quiet 
beauty. 

In spires and towers and their beautiful sites, the 
cathedrals of England far excel those of France, 
but in exquisite details of facade, perhaps the 
French are superior. 



TEA VELS. 49 

England has a score of cathedrals, and as many 
abbeys, and some of these ruins, ivy covered, are 
artistic in the extreme. Dickens has written of 
the immortal ivy — 

Oh a dainty plant is the ivy green 

That creepeth on ruins old ! 
Creeping where no life is seen, 

A rare old plant is the ivy green. 

Everywhere as you journey merry bells and 
chimes will delight you ; England is called the 
Ringing Island. There are about 15,000 churches 
and possibly 25,000 clergymen. The total annual, 
income of the Church of England approximates 
$25,000,000. 

Some of the Deans and Canons are paid from 
$10,000 to $15,000 each, and the Archbishop of 
York is paid $50,000, and the Archbishop of Canter- 
bury $75,000. The Sovereign is the head of the 
Church of England. 

In theory every Englishman is a member of the 
Church of England, but in reality about one-half 
only of the population of England and Wales 
belong to the Established Church ; the other half 
belong to the 200 denominations, of which the 
Roman Catholic church numbers fully 2,000,000 
members. 

Birmingham was the home of James Watt, 
inventor of the steam engine, and Priestly, the dis- 
coverer of oxygen. This is the city where the fam- 
ous Elkingtons make silver-plated and bronze goods. 



50 TRA VELS. 

and Gillott & Mason their well-known steel pens, 
one ton of steel making 1,440,000 pens. It is said 
that more steel is made into pens, than into cannon. 
Why should not the pen be mightier than the 
sword? Every street has its machinery and the 
whole townspeople are as busy as bees. East of 
Birmingham you come to Coventry with its " three 
tall spires," the center of the ribbon trade, which 
gives employment to 30,000 people. Thence south, 
we take a charming ride ten miles to Warwick, the 
road bordered with hedges and rows of splendid 
elms and sycamores. 

Through autumn, the foliage and fields are as 
green as in spring. Half way, en route you climb 
the magnificent ivy-covered ruins of Kenilworth 
Castle, where the Earl of Leicester entertained 
Queen Elizabeth over two weeks in regal splendor. 

Nowhere did we see so picturesque a specimen 
of the ancient feudal residence as Warwick Castle. 
The interior is filled with relics and gifts of by-gone 
English days. The immense conservatory, sur- 
rounded by masses of grateful shade, contains the 
celebrated Warwick vase, of white marble, highly 
embellished. 

Further south we came at sunset to Stratford-on- 
Avon, and enjoyed intensely a twilight hour in the 
modest birthplace, and at the tomb of the immortal 
Shakespeare. The old fashioned timbered story 
and a half house escaped a possible transfer on 
speculation to America, and is now religiously pre- 
served and annually visited by 20,000 persons. 



77?^ VELS. 5 I 

Six miles north of Birmingham is Chatsworth 
Park, the magnificent seat of Lord Cavendish, the 
Duke of Devonshire, embracing nearly 100,000 acres. 
Tne park and grounds with their extensive quarries 
of black and grey marble, are surrounded by broken 
ranges of hills, richly wooded with pines, beech, 
lime, sycamore and other trees. A beautiful stream 
winds quietly through the valley of rich pasturage, 
which is stocked with 2,000 head of tame deer. 
The public entrance is at the charming little village 
of Edensor, the pretty cottages of which are in the 
Tudor, Swiss and other styles. The mansion is of 
Grecian order by Sir Christopher Wren, and stands 
above terraces which are 1200 feet long. Within 
suites of rooms, 560 feet in length, are superb collec- 
tions of paintings, original drawings, carvings and 
statuary of which the Mother of Napoleon, and 
Petrarch's Laura by Canova are especially interest- 
ing. 

Sir Joseph Paxton has made the flower gardens, 
embracing a hundred acres, all that kings could 
desire. His grand conservatory is of metal and 
glass, 300 feet long and 65 feet high, and shields 
lofty palms and tropical plants of every variety, 
including a large Victoria Regia. The Crystal Pal- 
ace at London was modeled after this very symmet- 
rical structure. The fountains are like those at 
Versailles, throwing a jet 200 feet high. One foun- 
tain resembles a coffee tree. You are shown chest- 
nut and oak trees planted many years ago by the 
Emperor of Russia, and Queen Victoria. 



52 TRA VELS. 

At sunset, as we strolled toward the station, 
along a footpath, past several hunters followed by 
two carts full of pheasants and hares, by chance we 
enquired our way out of the forest, and afterwards 
were informed that we had been conversing with 
the Duke himself. His reply was marked with 
kindness and he gave evidence of culture, but he 
looked just like any other man, clad in hunter's 
costume, with gun in one hand, and leading a flaxen 
haired girl, who had run out to meet him. 

Of the 580 members of the peerage, thirty-three 
are dukes, five of whom are royal. The largest 
acreage owned in England is perhaps that of the 
Duke of Northumberland — Alnwick Castle — 186, 
397 acres ; gross rental, $880,220. The highest 
rent roll is that of the Duke of Norfolk — Arundel 
Castle — who receives $1,322,800 from 40,176 acres. 
Seventeen Englishmen hold each 50,000 acres; 
three over 100,000 acres. Of these, twelve receive 
each an annual rental of over half a million dollars. 

But we must hurry to London, past Rugby and 
fashionable Leamington, through a charming coun- 
try, large, sweet-scented roses in full bloom, and 
tasteful hedges on every hand, dividing the whole 
island into a highly cultivated garden. 

The history of London, dates back prior to the 
Christian era. To-day all roads by land and sea 
lead to London, as formely to Rome. Though 
often burned, plundered, and visited by plagues, 
London is the literary, financial, as well as the 
commercial and political metropolis of the world. 



TRAVELS. 53 

A history of London is an epitome of England. 
Four times as many letters come to London alone, 
as to all Ireland. London has 4,500,000 inhab- 
itants, more persons than dwell in the cities and 
towns of the six New England States, vast aggre- 
gate of many nationalities. In London are more 
Scotchmen than in Edinburgh, more Irish than in 
Dublin, more Roman Catholics than in Rome, and 
more Jews than in Palestine. Every five minutes 
in London claims its birth or death. Fortunately 
her situation on the classical Thames was in the 
royal path of empire. The additions to the few 
rude huts, built by the Britons in forest and marsh, 
steadily increased, and the growth the past century 
has been almost by magic, till modern London ex- 
tends twelve miles from east to west and ten from 
north to south, and covers an area equal to five 
hundred 160-acre farms. 

Twenty iron and stone bridges, and two tunnels, 
closely unite the north and south divisions made 
by the Thames. Countless factories are situated 
in the latter section. The London bridge cost 
$10,000,000. The 20,000 vehicles and 100,000 
.pedestrians that daily cross it make a deafening 
roar. Later, and adjacent to it, has been con- 
structed the unique Tower Bridge. 

The East End of London, north of the Thames, 
makes the money, while the West End spends it. 
In the former portion are found banks, exchanges, 
custom house, docks, courts, St. Paul's cathedral 
whose cross, 404 feet high, serves as a conspicuous 



54 TRA VELS. 

landmark, and the Bank of England, organized 200 
years ago, covering four acres, and employing 1,000 
clerks. The bank's capital is $70,000,000, and fre- 
quently $100,000,000 in gold and silver are on 
deposit, and twice that amount of bank notes in 
circulation. 

The West End contains the Houses of Parliament, 
Gothic style, covering eight acres and costing 
$15,000,000, Westminster Hall, which makes his- 
tory, and the grand old Abbey which preserves it, 
royal palaces, aristocratic mansions, government 
offices, picture galleries, museums, fifty elegant 
club houses, thirty theatres, etc. 

The population of London within the police dis- 
trict is over 4,500,000 ; more than that of half-a- 
dozen of the largest cities in the United States, 
nearly twice that of the State of Ohio, or a third 
more than that of the six New England states. 

The Londoner must have his bacon for breakfast, 
and his ''joint" or roast for dinner. His butcher's 
bill alone is more than twice the interest on our 
national debt ; our exportation of bacon, beef and 
pork is rapidly increasing. Water is supplied by 
nine companies. Many million tons of coal are 
annually consumed. 

The 10,000 streets and alleys of this gigantic city 
would reach from Boston across the continent. 
1,000,000 gas burners light them at night. Fre- 
quently dense fogs weigh down the smoke so that 
the gas is kept burning all day. Drivers walk their 
horses to avoid collision, and old residents actually 



TRA VELS. 5 5 

lose their way. In the winter it rains nearly every 
day, and everybody carries an umbrella. One half 
of the i,ioo churches belong to the Church of 
England ; less than fifty to the Catholics. Nearly 
all the cathedrals, once owned by the Roman 
Catholics, now belong to the Protestants, which 
forcibly illustrates how God worked through Martin 
Luther. 

London charities number over i,ooo, a fifth being 
hospitals; and her contributions for 1876 were 
$20,000,000. Five thousand teachers have in charge 
500,000 scholars in the public schools, which have 
made rapid progress since the passage of Forster's 
bill of 1871. 

The newspapers and periodicals number nearly 
700. The railways of Great Britain earn annually 
$300,000,000; nearly all concentrate in London, 
passing through the suburbs on magnificent via- 
ducts built level with the tops of the houses, and 
terminating in twenty principal stations, with pala- 
tial hotels attached ; the underground railway, forms 
a belt line round the inner or dense portion of the 
city. Nearly 200,000 passengers ride on the 600 
daily trains. Rapid transit is also supplemented 
by 10,000 busses and cabs. The salary of the Lord 
Mayor is four-fifths as much as that of our President. 

England is called a nation of shop-keepers, and it 
is easy to believe them all assembled at London. 
Immense warehouses on the extensive docks are 
burdened with the products of every clime under 
the sun. Here one-half the revenues of the king- 



5 6 TRA VELS. 

dom are collected. Everywhere plate glass win- 
dows are burdened, and the effect by gaslight is 
bewildering. Prices are plainly marked, and shop- 
ping and bargaining, as practised in America, are 
thoroughly discountenanced. 

The " almighty dollar " is not more idolized by the 
American than the gold sovereign by the English- 
man. You can easily forget his brusqueness when 
you experience his cordial hospitality, and forgive 
all except the feeing system everywhere permitted. 
At hotels, after receiving the receipted bill, includ- 
ing the service of servants, you are expected always 
to pay the servants a second time. At restaurants 
you fee the person who selects your mutton chop, 
the cook, the waiter, the cashier, and the servant, 
and, perhaps, a soldier wearing a medal who stands 
at the door. 

The exalted position which the capital of England 
holds is largely due to the unequaled opportunities 
which are offered for education at the universities 
of Cambridge and Oxford. The former is located 
fifty miles north of London, on the pretty river 
Cam, the latter sixty miles west, on the Thames. 
For centuries these grand Institutions, founded 
back in obscurity, have been richly endowed by 
royalty, nobility and the wealthy. Trinity at Cam- 
bridge, with its five quadrangular courts, surrounded 
by stone buildings, excels all other colleges in 
number of students, illustrious graduates, and 
extent of buildings. King's Chapel, with its 
twenty-five magnificent windows brilliantly painted, 



TRAVELS. 57 

and its vast roof vaulted with exquisite fan tracery, 
are works of art not easily forgotten. Oxford has 
its Christ's College, patronized by the present 
royal family, and is perhaps the most aristocratic. 

The students' rooms visited gave every evidence 
of the artistic taste of occupants. A few of the 
eminent graduates of these remarkable institutions 
are. Bacon, Milton, Byron, the Wesleys, Whitfield, 
Johnson, Ruskin, Gibbon, Macaulay and Wm. E. 
Gladstone. But the great philosophers, poets, 
preachers and statesmen, unaided by inventors and 
discoverers, could not have made the British Islands 
into the Great Britain of to-day. The fierce strug- 
gles for freedom of the Englishmen for twenty 
centuries have developed an energy that has accom- 
plished results unparalleled in the world's annals. 
The British empire is greater than either ancient 
Rome, or classic Greece. Notwithstanding the 
severe loss of acreage and population by the separa- 
tion of the American colonies, other immense acquisi- 
tions have been made during the last century, so 
that the total area of the '' Empire on which the 
sun never sets," including India, is nearly 6,000,000, 
000 acres ; or almost two and a half times 
greater than that of the United States, not to make 
mention of vast areas in Africa. The total popula- 
tion is six times greater, or quite 300,000,000. Total 
imports and exports, $4,700,000,000 ; total debt of 
the empire, $4,800,000,000; of Great Britain alone, 
$3,800,000,000, which cumbersome debt was largely 
incurred during the long reign of King George. 



58 TRA VELS. 

The declaration of American independence in- 
creased England's debt $600,000,000 ; the daily 
interest of which is $50,000. Rather a costly 
visit of our mother country. 

The French war, terminating in Wellington's 
decisive victory at Waterloo, cost five times as much 
more. In the reign of Charles the Second, the 
national credit was broken, but later, however, an 
act was passed allowing three per cent permanent 
interest annually. 

The debt of Great Britain is equal to $123 per 
capita, or a $50 mortgage on every acre of the 
British Islands. The debt of the United States is 
only $40 per capita, or less than $1 per acre. 

The financial supremacy of Great Britain has not 
arisen from agricultural pursuits, although its soil 
yields a daily rental of $1,000,000, and a yearly 
product, valued at $1,300,000,000, to the 50,000 
owners. 

If the Duke of Wellington and Lord Nelson 
increased the power of England abroad, vastly 
more did James Watt, whose modest monument 
stands in Burmingham, multiply her power at 
home by his invention of the priceless steam engine. 
By its use practically the entire male population of 
Great Britain was increased 800 per cent. 

Ship building, chief among her great industries, 
has exerted the most important influence upon the 
welfare and integrity of the Empire. To-day she 
owns half the shipping of the civilized world. 

The annual output of a single ship-building firm 



TRAVELS, 59 

on the Clyde has equaled the entire English fleet 
which vanquished the Spanish Armada in 1588. 

If mighty war ships, carrying monster guns cap- 
able of throwing steel shot weighing a ton a dis- 
tance of ten miles, have been needed for home 
defense, so an immense mercantile fleet has been 
the very means of acquiring knowledge of and 
extending commerce round the globe. England, 
besides, builds iron-clads and unarmored war vessels 
for most European powers, and Brazil, Chili, Peru, 
Japan, etc. 

Her next important industry is mining. Fully 
one-tenth of Great Britain is underlaid with strata 
below strata of coals, most suitable for reducing 
ores, one-third of which is anthracite, and two- 
thirds bituminous, sufficient to last, it is estimated, 
a thousand years. The proximity of coal to iron 
ores, and of both to good harbors, make handling 
exceedingly economical. The best of English steel 
rails are now offered in New York at $22 per ton, 
while we are driven to protect our rail mills by re- 
quiring a tariff of $28 per ton, more than a hundred 
per cent. Of course great changes have come since 
1878. 

The Englishmen, Darby, Neilson, Cort and Bes- 
semer discovered the " philosopher's stone " which 
turned at least coal and ores into fabulous sums of 
British gold. 

Prior to 1730 the production of English iron 
had nearly ceased on account of enactments enforced 
to protect the forests, but it was resuscitated by 



6o TRA VELS. 

Abraham Darby's valuable discovery that coke 
could be used in place of charcoal to smelt ores, and 
produce cast iron. The hot blast of Neilson made 
it possible to use raw coal which produced four-fold 
more iron, and reduced ores otherwise refractory. 
By this single invention, millions of tons of coal are 
annually saved. Henry Cort's skill gave us malle- 
able iron and rolled plate, making it possible to uti- 
lize steam, construct iron ships, bridges and railways. 
His inventions were worth to Great Britain at least 
$3,000,000,000. Henry Bessemer's brilliant discov- 
ery in 1856, of converting in a few minutes molten 
pig iron into steel, amazed the scientific world. He 
reduced the cost of steel rails, which last five times 
as long as iron, from $200 per ton to $25 and less. 
His patents number over one hundred, and honors 
have been bestowed upon him by emperors and 
kings. 

In little more than a century Paul Hargreaves, 
Arkwright and Compton, invented machinery to 
take the place of thumb and finger in spinning. 
Arkwright was knighted by George the Third, and 
left a fortune of $2,500,000. 

These British inventors and capital have devel- 
oped the manufacture of textile fabrics, especially 
cotton goods, into a colossal trade. From 1850 to 
1876, the annual increase was 100,000,000 yards; 
sufficient to double wind the globe. 

For the present our English rival will hold a 
decided advantage in the world of trade with her 
enormous capital and the credit it justly commands, 



TRAVELS, 6 1 

and her available freights. But our unsurpassed 
geographical position on the Atlantic and Pacific, 
with rapidly acquired skill in utilizing our immense 
resources, and the balance of trade so largely in our 
favor, must in the immediate future inevitably com- 
mand for us a first place among the great nations 
struggling for commercial supremacy. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Scotland. Big Tom. The Ringing Island. Edinburgh, and 
Castle Rock. Romantic Holyrood, and Mary, Queen of Scots. 
An old Oaken Chest. Fearless John Knox. Rizzio stabbed. 
The Enigma of History. Where Kings were Crowned, and 
Buried. Scott, the " Magician of the North." Famous Mel- 
rose Abbey, The Heart of Robert Bruce. A Wizard's 
Grave. Abbotsford, Scott's Home. His Library and Study. 
Irving called Scott, " Golden Hearted." Sterling Castle, and 
" Hill of God ". Trossachs. To a Highland Girl. Locks 
Katrine and Lomond. Glasgow, center of Ship-building. Ayr, 
birthplace of Robert Burns. The True Story. Burns and his 
Monuments, 

Mrs. Bolton frequently urged that we cut short 
the time for unimportant sights, and use our days 
to study the more interesting places and facts of 
the old world. So we hastened from London 
towards Scotland for a few days. 

From the Express at a distance one sees Lincoln 
Cathedral with its three great towers, and " Big 
Tom " in the central tower rings out his welcome 
as the train pulls into this old cathedral town. 
Lincoln Cathedral, rivaling Westminster, covers 
two acres in an open site upon a high hill. It was 
built 800 years ago and is a fine example of early 
English architecture. 

A distant view of Lincoln whetted our tastes for 



TRA VELS. 63 

an early morning visit to York Cathedral. The 
first rays of the dawn lit up for us the unrivaled 
beauty of its East window. This ancient structure 
with its three rows of clustered columns, and arches, 
is perfect in its proportions. 

We rode near the blue waters of the North Sea 
and finally came to learned Edinburgh, like Rome 
set upon hills, with lovely parks in her valleys. 
How rich this old city in memories of Queen Mary, 
Knox, Scott and Burns ! Tall and antique build- 
ings line the principal street of the Old Town, 
which leads from the interesting Palace of Flolyrood 
to the huge rock on which the castle is built, 443 
feet above the sea level. Princes street extends 
along the edge of the valley that separates the 
New Town from the Old. It affords a unique prom- 
enade for citizens and tourists, and a magnificent 
view of the lordly Castle, which view is rivaled only 
by that obtained from adjacent Calton Hill, stud- 
ded with its historic monuments. Beyond one 
sees the Firth of Forth, with its vast shipping and 
surrounding waters. 

Castle Rock was occupied as an impregnable 
fort long before the Roman Conquest. It has 
accommodations for 2,000 soldiers. Here Mary 
Queen of Scots gave birth to James I. who became 
the successor of Queen Elizabeth ; thus the son 
wore the crown so ardently sought by his cruelly 
beheaded mother. 

Sir Walter Scott found in 1818 in an old oaken 
chest in the castle, the insignia of the Scottish 



64 TRA VELS. 

monarchs, a crown, sceptre and sword of state, lost 
for a century. Scotchmen are justly proud of 
their symbols of unconquered independence, dating 
from the hero of Bannockburn. 

The home of John Knox stands on High street. 
On the door is the inscription, *' Lufe God abufe al, 
and yi nychbour [as] yiself." From the window 
Knox often preached. John Knox was educated 
as a priest. He was small in stature, never robust, 
and espoused Protestantism in 1542. He pushed 
the Reformation energetically, with pen, tongue, and 
counsel. His sermons were bold and defiant. 
Knox died in 1572, and over him was said, '' Here 
lies one who never feared the face of man." A 
mighty mind that left its impress on an entire 
nation, and succeeding generations. 

Queen Mary had angry colloquies with John 
Knox, whose tongue was a match for her sceptre. 
She demanded of the reformer, ''Think you that 
subjects, having the power, may resist their princes ?" 
and received the bold reply : '' If princes exceed 
their bounds, Madam, no doubt they may be resisted 
even by power." The earnestness, zeal and rugged 
determination of her opponent was met by royal 
rank and feminine wit. 

We notice that the front of Holyrood Castle is 
flanked by two castellated circular towers at either 
end, with entrance gate between them. Within, a 
picture gallery is shown of 106 Scottish Sovereigns. 
The life of none, however, is so romantic and pictur- 
esque as that of Queen Mary. Her father James V. 



TRA VELS. 65 

heard of his daughter's birth just before he died 
(1542). Henry VIII. sought to unite the crown of 
England and Scotland by marrying his son Edward 
to Mary in infancy, but jealous Scotchmen sent the 
six year old child to France for education. At 
seventeen she married King Francis II. and became 
Queen of France and Scotland. The Romish party 
claimed Elizabeth's crown for Mary, while Francis 
lived. The claim was formidable, but three years 
later as a widow and with bitter regrets, she left the 
brilliant court of France, and dwelt in the dreary 
chambers of this palace. 

Queen Mary's bed chamber has an oak paneled 
ceiling, walls hung with tapestry, and pictures of 
Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth. Mary's bedroom 
communicated with a small supper room, where 
Darnley, her husband, held the weeping Queen, 
while conspirators repeatedly stabbed Rizzio, Mary's 
favorite. When Darnley was slain, Bothwell became 
her third husband, and later died in exile. Unfortu- 
nate Mary, after nineteen years of captivity, at 
the age of forty-five, was beheaded (February 8, 
1587) at Fotheringay Castle by command of her 
cousin Queen Elizabeth, and the story of her 
strange life is to this day the enigma of history. 

The chapel of Holyrood Abbey was founded in 
1 128 by David I. A ruin is all that remains of 
this old abbey. It is a beautiful illustration of the 
transition from the Norman to the Gothic arch. 
Here Charles I. was crowned King of Scotland. 
Here James II., James III., Queen Mary and 



66 TEA VELS. 

Darnley, were married. Rizzio, at the command of 
the queen, was interred in the royal vaults, but 
afterwards removed to another part of the chapel 
to prevent scandal. Here are buried many Scot- 
tish Kings, Queens, and noble personages. 

Scott's monument on Princes street, is two hun- 
dred feet high. It is an open Gothic spire, a com- 
position from Melrose Abbey designs. Beneath a 
quadrangular arch, resting on four elegant pillars, 
is a sitting marble figure of the great novelist and 
poet. Statues of heroes and heroines which the 
" magician of the North " invoked, adorn the niches 
of the monument. 

Melrose Abbey is the noblest ruin in Scotland. 
It was built in the twelfth century, as a labor of 
love by monks, who enjoyed a princely income, but 
lived a simple and pastoral life. Bruce rebuilt it 
with great splendor. Melrose was twice burnt, 
thrice ruined by armies, and unroofed by the 
Reformers, and the wonder is that anything beauti- 
ful remains. Statues of Christ and the Twelve 
Apostles once filled the niches above the great 
South window. 

Within Melrose are sixteen chapels, ornamented 
with delicate carving, sculptured plants, flowers and 
fruit. Here are buried illustrious dead, and the 
heart of Robert Bruce ; and under a mossy stone, a 
wizard's grave, concerning which Scott writes : 

" I buried him on St. Michael's night, 

When the bell tolled one, and the moon was bright, 

And I dug his chamber among the dead, 



TRA VELS. 6^ 

Where the floor of the channel was stained red, 
That his patron's cross might over him wave, 
And scare the fiends from the Wizard's grave." 

Abbotsford, the romantic home of Sir Walter 
Scott, is on the Tweed. It has fantastic gables, 
projecting windows, curious balconies, pointed 
turrets ; winding paths, and extensive forests cover 
this, the famous battlefield of Melrose. Stag's 
horns are over the doors. 

Scott's library has twenty thousand rare books. 
In the dining room are family portraits, and ebony 
furniture, gift of George IV., in the drawing room. 
Everywhere are ceilings of antique carved oak, 
stained glass, coats of arms, daggers, crossed swords 
and figures in armor. We pass all these, and with 
quickened pulse enter Scott's study, which is 
lighted by a single window. Books are on three 
sides. Here is Scott's black leather arm-chair, and 
the modest desk on which he wrote his novels and 
poetry that have charmed the world. In a glass 
case you can see the suit of clothes last worn by 
Sir Walter, his white hat, blue coat with brass 
buttons, gray checked trousers and stout shoes, a 
walking stick beside them. 

Scott was born in 1771. He boasted of his de- 
scent from barons and dukes. In his second year 
he became incurably lame. In school he showed 
personal courage, skill in story-telling, love for 
poetry, old plays, novels and histories. Law he 
studied and disliked. Circumstances finally gave 
him a moderate income. 



6S TRA VELS. 

Beneath the arch of the Edinburgh Monument 
sits Sir Walter Scott, with book, pen, and faithful 
dog. His first books were a collection of ancient 
ballads, Marmion, and the Lady of the Lake. 
When Byron became famous, he sneered at Scott 
because he wrote for money. The first of the 
Waverley Novels was published anonymously. 
Eighteen volumes followed in eleven years, and were 
popular beyond example. He engaged in book 
publishing, won money, fame and title ; built a 
baronial castle, and the distinguished of Europe were 
proud to partake beneath its roof of his hospitality. 
Suddenly his book-firm failed, and Scott's liabilities 
were $750,000. At fifty-five years of age, refusing 
to compromise with his creditors, he heroically set 
to work to cancel his obligations. His life of Napo- 
leon brought $70,000. He and his executors paid 
the debts but he died from over-work. Dryburgh 
Abbey to-day contains a hero far grander than 
Scott's pen ever created. Sir Walter abounded in 
the joyousness of youth. Sunshine played round 
his heart, and his simplicity of manner charmed 
everybody, even his cats and dogs. Irving called 
him *' Golden hearted." 

We stopped at Sterling, a river port, on the right 
bank of the Forth, about thirty-one miles north- 
west of Edinburgh. Of the origin of the ancient 
Castle, which stands on a high hill, little or nothing 
is known. No wonder it was the favorite residence 
of James V., for the view of the windings of the 
Forth is unequaled. In sight also is the historic 



77?^ VELS, 69 

field of Bannockburn, where on June 24, 13 14, was 
fought the famous battle between the brave Scotch 
and the larger English army. 

Artists, for their studies, visit the lovely valley 
beyond Sterling Castle, at Callander ; red tiled roofs, 
threshed straw, garden vegetables, clear river, 
bridges, fertile farms and rich foliage. In the dis- 
tance soars Ben Ledi, " Hill of God," which Scott 
also immortalized. The patriotism, thrift and wit 
of the Scotch are proverbial. 

At the Trossachs is a delightful hotel on the 
east approach. Mountains like sentinels guard the 
pass. The smooth road to the right of the hotel 
passes into the shady gorge, a mile in length ; ash, 
beech and oak trees cover crevices and hilltops. 
Macaulay says, '' The Trossachs wind between 
gigantic walls of rock, tapestried with broom and 
wild roses." 

Inversnaid Falls, between Loch Lomond and Loch 
Katrine, is the scene of Wordsworth's poem To a 
Highland Girl. 

" Sweet Highland girl, from thee I part, 
For I, methinks till I grow old 
As fair before me shall behold, 
As I do now the cabin small, 
The Lake, the Bay, the Waterfall— 
And thee, the spirit of them all ! " 

Loch Katrine was immortalized by Scott in his 
Lady of the Lake. Scott made Helen's Isle in 
Loch Katrine the retreat of his heroine, and on the 



JO TRA VELS. 

silver strand opposite Helen met the knight of 
Snowden. 

This district is not easily surpassed in beauty. It 
was all fought over by Scottish Clans. Every foot 
is classic ground. 

Glasgow, a city of half a million people, is per- 
haps more like New York than any other European 
city. George Square is a beautiful park, with a 
monument, 80 feet high, to Sir Walter Scott. It 
contains equestrian statues of the Queen, and Prince 
Albert, James Watt, Robert Peel, and others. 
Statues of great men incite to noble deeds. Glas- 
gow is also a great center for ship building. The 
iron and steel ship yards stretching along the Clyde, 
in a single year launched 291 vessels, with a tonnage 
of 400,000 tons, nearly a vessel a day. A single 
firm employs 6,000 mechanics. Forty per cent of 
the families of Glasgow live in a single room. 
Necessarily there is much of sin and misery in the 
city. 

The University on an elevation 300 feet high is 
one of the handsomest structures in Scotland. The 
foundation stone was laid in 1868 by the Prince 
and Princess of Wales. 

We ride towards the enchanted land of Robert 
Burns, and enter 

" Auld Ayr, a town wham nane surpasses. 
For honest men and bonnie lasses." 

The birthplace of Robert Burns was a small clay 
cottage, two rooms only, floored with loose stones. 



TRAVELS. 71 

In 1759, January 25, young *' Robbie " was born 
in a recess in the kitchen. In the chimney side are 
pots and kettles his mother Agnes used. His 
father, who built the cottage, struggled with pov- 
erty, but gave his children a good education. At 
meal times the Burns family had books in one hand 
and spoons in the other. Robert studied a history 
of Wallace, Shakespeare's plays, and a collection of 
English songs. He mastered French and joined 
the Masons. In place of making a practical sur- 
veyor, flax-dresser or farmer, he became a great 
poet. His verse was replete with fire, humor, and 
pathos, combined with great simplicity and natural- 
ness. 

Robert Burns, the " simple bard, rough at the 
rustic plough," awakened to find himself a lion at 
the Scottish capital. His originality, force and 
brilliancy in conversation, produced a greater im- 
pression than his poetry. He traveled as a rustic 
bard, scratching impromptu verses on tavern win- 
dows, inditing passionate love strains to ladies of 
every degree. Burns exerted a fascinating influence 
over beautiful women. His love for Mary Camp- 
bell, "The Highland Girl," was romantic, yet he 
afterwards married his '* Bonnie Jean." He never 
earned more than $250 a year for his family. His 
habits of immorality and dissipation helped to keep 
him in poverty. Disappointed with life, he died at 
thirty-seven, and was buried at Dumfries. 

The True Story of Burns' '' Highland Mary " is 
said to be this : Mary Campbell was a Highland 



J2 TRA VELS. 

girl, *' a most sprightly, blue-eyed creature, of great 
modesty and self-respect," and was still in the 
neighborhood of Mauchline when that unfortunate 
affair with Jean was setting the village in a blaze. 
Mary had so much faith in the young farmer, that 
it was agreed between them that she should give 
up her place, go to the Highlands, where her 
father was a sailor in Campbelton, and arrange 
matters there for her formal union with the poet. 
The lovers had a meeting the second Sunday in 
May, 1786, where they made the most solemn vows 
of faithful adherence. Standing on each side of a 
slow-running brooklet and holding a Bible between 
them, the two swore themselves to be one till death. 
Mary presented her lover with a plain small Bible 
in one volume, while Burns responded with a more 
dainty one in two volumes. The day of this solemn 
act of devout self-dedication was the last time that 
Burns saw his " Highland Mary." It is not strange 
that it remained for life in his soul a picture of pure 
affection more sacred than any with which his large 
experience of female favors had furnished him. 
Mary Campbell, after visiting her parents, was 
returning to Glasgow, when, stopping on the road 
at Greenock to attend a sick brother, she caught 
fever from him and died. 

Burn's monument is on the Bonnie Doon. It is 
triangular, 60 feet high, and contains a museum of 
relics pertaining to Burns. The upper part consists 
of nine graceful columns of the Corinthian order. 
An acre of tastefully laid out walks and flower 



TRA VELS. 73 

beds surrounds it. Among the interesting treas- 
ures of the poet are the Bibles presented to him by 
his Highland Mary, the inscriptions still legible. 
Near by in a grotto is a statue of Tam O'Shanter. 

Burns was generous and good natured, and will 
ever remain the idol of the people, because he 
entered so heartily into their daily life. 

" But who his human heart has laid 
To nature's bosom nearer ? 
Who sweetened toil like him, or paid 
To love a tribute dearer ? " 

In 1 8/14 60,000 people gathered at his birthplace 
to give welcome to his sons. Burns' fame is world- 
wide. 

" First the banks of Doon beheld it. 
Then his own land was its span. 
Till the world became his empire, 
• - And his home the heart of man." 

In the pretty gardens of the Victoria Embank- 
ment of London stands another monument in- 
scribed on which are the following words : 

ROBERT BURNS 

1759-1796 

The poetic genius of my country, found me at the plough, and 
threw her inspiring genuis over me. She bade me sing 
the loves, the joys, the rural scenes, and rural 
pleasures, of my native soil in my 
native tongue. I tuned my 
wild, artless notes 
as she in- 
spired. 



CHAPTER V. 

Paris, an Earthly Paradise. The Boulevards. Light-hearted 
Parisians. The Seine Bridges. No Seat, no Fare. A Gem in 
Architecture. The Communists of 1871. "Vive la Com- 
mune ! " The Gardens of the Tuileries. The Classic Made- 
leine. Flower Cart. Where the French Rival Nature. A 
Table d'Hote. Glass Kiosques. Paris Papers. " Down with 
the Bastile ! " 14th of July Column. The Superb Louvre. 
Priceless Art Treasures. Assyrian Antiquities. The Hall of 
Augustus. Diana and Her Stag. Hall of Caryatides. The 
Venus de Milo. Gallery of Apollo. The Grand Salon of 
Paintings, and the Immaculate Conception. 

A RIDE of ten hours across the English Channel 
and thence southeast by rail brought Mrs. Bolton 
and myself to superb Paris. The world dreams of 
Paris as an earthly Paradise some time to be 
enjoyed. For a dozen centuries Paris has been the 
residence of French rulers, and the Mecca of the 
French people. Fire, famine, foreign invasion, 
civil war and pestilence have swept often over this 
fair city, yet from each affliction. Phoenix-like, Paris 
has risen brighter and gayer than ever. Paris, 
capital of the French Republic, is the most cosmo- 
politan of cities, and the center of European civili- 
zation. Especially was this true during the Exposi- 
tion year of 1878. We entered a fine railway depot 
in the northern part of the city, a structure which 
covers ten acres. A railway also surrounds Paris 



TRAVELS. 75 

joining the many pretty suburbs. The population 
of Paris and suburbs is 2,500,000, about equal to 
that of New York, Brooklyn, and Jersey City com- 
bined. 

We drove down Boulevard Sebastopol, which was 
built under Napoleon III. Splendid outer and 
inner Boulevards encircle the city ; the new portions 
have uniform architecture and balconies with each 
story. The Boulevards from the Madeleine to the 
July Column are flanked with massive limestone 
buildings, palatial mansions, and glittering shops. 
The asphalt pavements are washed early every 
morning, and at sundown the wide, shady walks in 
front of brilliant cafes are crowded with men and 
women sipping coffee, light wine or absynthe, and 
learning the latest bit of social or political news. 
Parisians favor flats, and enjoy outdoor life. At 
mid-day a busy throng crowds all the Boulevards. 

From the towers of Notre Dame we get a bird's 
eye view of the Seine bridges. My class-mate. 
Babbit, once urged me to enjoy, in every locality 
possible, the extensive views obtainable only from 
some convenient height. These pictures are to-day 
the most vivid. The bridges are thirty in number. 
The river makes a bold curve of seven miles through 
the city and flows northwest into the English Chan- 
nel. In the morgue near by, on marble slabs, are 
exposed to view for three days, a thousand bodies 
annually, of unknown persons, who have perished 
in the Seine or otherwise. On the rigrht horizon 
are seen the domes of the incomparable Louvre. 



76 TRAVELS. 

Traveling about Paris, in omnibus or tramway 
cars is made as agreeable as possible. Nobody is 
permitted to ride without a seat. There are wait- 
ing stations everywhere. Eighty tramways and 
omnibus lines intersect the city in every direction. 
Fares, with transfers, inside, six cents ; outside, 
three cents. We visited St. Chapelle, a gem of 
Gothic architecture, also the Theatre Fran^ais, in 
which France honors with laurels, Moliere, Corne- 
ille and Racine, those brilliant dramatic writers of 
the reign of Louis XIV. 

The Palace of the Tuileries was the official resi- 
dence of the reigning monarch, and was very rich 
in historical associations. The Communists in 
May, 1 87 1, set fire to the principal buildings of 
Paris, the smoke shutting out the sunlight. The 
Tuileries burned for three days. Men bearing slow 
matches to fire the Louvre were shot. Anarchy 
sought to blot out civilization. A captain, who 
had captured a Communist barricade and prisoners, 
who were to be shot, was suddenly appealed to by 
an erect black-eyed lad of fifteen, '' Listen, captain," 
he said ; " Before I die let me return a watch given 
me for safe keeping by the janitor across the way." 
The captain thought the boy desired a pretext for 
escape, and tired of his bloody work said, " Yes, 
begone, little scoundrel." But just as the captain's 
platoon of executioners had killed the other prison- 
ers, the lad came running back, and placed himself 
before the bloody wall, exclaiming " Captain, here I 
am ; ready." Not a soldier fired, and again the lad 



TRA VELS. TJ 

was dismissed, tears standing in the captain's eyes, 
as he looked in wonder upon such nobility of char- 
acter. Climbing over ashes and broken stones 
(now wholly removed) , we emerge from the sad 
ruins, and find relief in a genuine Communistic 
meeting. The crowded room is thick with smoke, 
excitement is at white heat, the orator has reached 
a climax, and men, women and children shout 
" Vive la Commune". The only quiet ones in the 
Communistic meeting are the well dressed reporters. 
George Eliot says, " A Communist is one who 
wishes to divide equally unequal earnings." 

When the Germans had conquered France, 
Thiers strove in good faith to fulfil the severe terms 
of peace exacted by Bismarck. '' Alsace and Lorain 
were to be restored," and *' 5,000,000,000 of francs 
to be paid." In opposition to the Thiers Govern- 
ment the dissatisfied and reckless radicals of Paris, 
hostile to the rich and the clergy, attempted to 
form a government of their own. And now Paris 
suffered a second siege, worse than the first. The 
regular troops entered the city, and terrible destruc- 
tion followed. The Communists behind barricades 
of stone fought like tigers. The streets ran with 
blood, and when their cause became hopeless the 
mob unroofed Thiers' house, burned the Palais 
Royal, the Palace of Justice, the Grand Library of 
the Louvre, and millions of dollars worth of pro- 
perty. But their retribution was dreadful. It is 
said that twenty thousand anarchists were guillo- 
tined, shot and exiled. 



78 TRA VELS. 

A walk in the Gardens of the Tulleries opens 
before us a beautiful vista. Orange trees, flowers, 
statues and fountains make this place always a fav- 
orite resort for Parisians. In pleasant weather this 
is a Paradise for tastefully dressed children, in 
charge of nurse-maids in white caps and aprons, 
who make a picturesque sight beneath the elm and 
lime trees. Beyond the obelisk of Luxor begins 
the Champs-Elysees, broad and shady, and extend- 
ing to the Arch of Triumph. Under the trees are 
open air concerts, theatres, cafes, and pretty booths 
stored with refreshments. Multitudes throng this 
noble avenue, strolling under the trees, or seated 
on rows of chairs watching the world pass in 
review. 

To the right up the Rue Royal we saw the 
Madeleine, a nineteenth century rival of the twelfth 
century Notre Dame. This church built in the 
style of a great temple, is one of the most beautiful 
in the world. Though begun and finally dedicated 
as a church, yet Napoleon had hoped to complete 
it as a Temple of Glory for his old soldiers. It 
cost $3,000,000. A colonnade of fifty-two fluted 
Corinthian columns, and a rich frieze, surround the 
church. Enormous bronze doors, illustrating the 
Ten Commandments, are approached by twenty- 
eight steps. We enter and behold a richly adorned 
interior, marble floors and lofty columns, which 
support a three domed roof, through which the 
light of heaven enters. On either side are six con- 
fessionals of oak and gilt, where prince and peasant 



TEA VELS. 79 

alike have confessed. How beautiful the altar of 
spotless white marble ! Madeleine is represented 
forgiven, and borne above on angel wings. This 
is the metropolitan church of Paris, and here on 
Sabbath mornings exquisite music may be heard, 
and the elite of the world be seen. It is greatly to 
the credit of the Catholic church, that not even 
costly St. Peter's nor any of their churches are too 
good for the rich and poor together to worship the 
Master. 

Flower carts in charge of courteous women, 
dressed in peasant garb, are seen in great numbers. 
A franc, eighteen cents, purchases a great bunch of 
marguerites, like the English ox-eyed daisy, a 
favorite flower with the French ; or roses in bud 
and blossom, and pansies. Parisian gardeners 
delight in mid-winter in forcing thousands of white 
lilac blossoms, which are sold in European capitals 
for holiday gifts. Here artificial flower makers 
abound ; excellent botanists and chemists are they. 
Stems and stamens are made from wire and silk, 
leaves and petals are shaped with dies, and darkened 
by a camel's-hair pencil, or lightened by a drop of 
water. Nature is rivaled except in delicate fra- 
grance. Parisian dressmakers made for an Ameri- 
can belle an ideal robe composed entirely of 
flov/ers, a skirt of roses of different tints, with a 
waist of rosebuds; and over all a veil with crystal 
drops to imitate the morning dew. The dress 
shipped from Paris, the duty paid in New York, we 
easily imagine the delight it gave to a whole house- 



8o 77?^ VELS. 

hold, while the owner sweetly exclaimed, " It is 
too lovely for anything ! " 

One can enjoy at six o'clock the Table d'Hote at 
the Grand Hotel near the Opera House. Carriages 
enter a court made cheerful by fountain, flowers 
and electric light. Here 200 persons may dine 
in comfort. The eight or more courses are 
served by waiters, who are civil and quick. Soup 
hot, oysters and fish the freshest, braised young 
partridge, and unsurpassed dressing for meats. 
Potatoes white as snow, and other crisp vegetables ; 
salads follow, ices, dainty cakes, rich cheese, and 
choice fruits. Cooking in Paris is an art that has 
attained perfection. If, however, you prefer a rest- 
ful dinner, few cities have more secluded nooks. 
It is related that Handel, the great composer, 
ordered a " dinner for three," and when asked by 
the waiter where the rest of the party were, tran- 
quilly replied, " I am de company." 

Breakfast on the Continent is always bread and 
coffee, and to the laboring people it means a bowl 
of broth and a bit of bread, or bread alone. The 
American, however, will find himself served with 
butter, and eggs or meat, unless he has previously 
ordered a '* plain breakfast," when he will receive 
the usual bread and coffee. 

The news stands, or kiosques, seen everywhere in 
Paris, are usually small glass stalls, where the 750 
papers and periodicals of Paris are sold, usually by 
women and children. Fifty of these papers are 
political. The Gazette is 250 years old (established 



TRAVELS. 8 1 

163 1). The Times {Le Temps, an evening Republi- 
can paper), is English-like and widely known. The 
Jour?ial of Debate {Le Journal Des Debats), of cor- 
rect and elegant language, prefers to discuss ques- 
tions of foreign policy. Papers called Petit, or 
little, often have large circulation. The Little Jour- 
nal {Le Petit Journal) has a sale of more than 
half a million copies daily. Frenchmen at home or 
abroad, must have the Figaro, which is read for its 
theatrical news and spicy gossip. It has the odor of 
the boulevards. The press of Paris has often pro- 
voked revolutions. To study the one begun July 
14, 1789, we stand by the famous July Column. 
The heroic struggles in America for liberty a cen- 
tury ago, in which Frenchmen heartily joined, 
quickened the desires of France for popular govern- 
ment. The tide of revolution rose rapidly. July 
14, 1789, the cry '' Down with the Bastile ! " re- 
sounded throughout Paris, and fierce waves of 
indignation beat against these massive walls and 
sombre towers till the hated symbol of despotism 
disappeared forever. Now the 14th of July conse- 
crated by the blood of martyrs for liberty, has 
become the Frenchman's Fourth of July. Over the 
tomb of those who fell stands the noble July 
Column, and on its surface are emblazone.d in 
gilded letters the names of immortal heroes, while 
on a globe at the top stands the Genius of Liberty 
Triumphant, with slavery's broken chains, and a 
torch of enlightenment, from which Bartholdi 
lighted another torch across the seas. 



82 TRA VELS. 

Twenty Corinthian columns in pairs form the 
fine colonnade of the east fagade of the Louvre, 
and the superb bronze doors were made by order of 
Napoleon. This fagade is 90 feet high and 570 
feet in length. The architectural splendor of the 
Louvre, which covers 48 acres, and its invaluable 
art treasures, make this one of the most important 
public buildings in Paris. Here 300 years ago 
(1572) Henry IV., King of Navarre, was married. 
From this Palace five days later, on that fearful 
night of St. Bartholomew, the signal was given for 
the massacre of the Huguenot chiefs and others 
decoyed to the royal wedding. Another view of 
the Louvre seen down the Avenue de I'Opera ex- 
hibits the arches beneath which royalty rode to the 
palace. Elaborately carved buildings enclose three 
courts about 500 feet square. The Louvre was 
begun three centuries ago by indefatigable Francis 
L and splendor loving Henry H., continued by 
Catharine de Medicis, Henry IV., Louis XIV., and 
completed by the Napoleons. The grand centrali- 
zation of art in the Louvre is largely due to the 
return of Napoleon's armies from Italy, the Nether- 
lands, Germany and Spain laden with art treasures. 
Through the arches is discovered a wing or pavilion. 
Entering the court beyond we see its architectural 
beauty. 

The Pavilion Richelieu was named after the 
great Cardinal, who so long controlled the destinies 
of France. There are many blocks, or pavilions. 
Napoleon I. erected a connecting gallery that cost 



TEA VELS, 83 

$15,000,000. How grand the portico, Corinthian 
half columns, caryatids, domes, groups of sculpture, 
and colossal statues of nearly a hundred eminent 
Frenchmen. Splendid galleries or rooms within 
contain the work of masters of every age, in sculp- 
ture, painting, pottery, carving and jewelry. In fact, 
here may be studied a history of art from the 
earliest age. Entering beneath the colonnade, on 
the right, we behold a winged Bull with portrait 
head from the palace of King Sargon who reigned 
722-705 B. C. over Assyria at Nineveh on the 
Tigris. Monuments like this adorn palace gate- 
ways. Late excavations have revealed extensive 
palaces, lined with alabaster slabs picturing hunting 
scenes, battlefields, and sieges. To the left we 
seem to journey through Egypt and up the Nile. 
Now we enter the Hall of Augustus, one of a suite 
of elegant rooms erected by Catharine de Medicis, 
and decorated by Napoleon HI., devoted to sculp- 
tures of the Roman Imperial period. Here are 
works of highest rank. In the center is a bust of 
Antinous, Hadrian's favorite, drowned in the Nile 
and deified ; the expression is grave and pensive. 
In the niche beyond is a majestic statue of Augus- 
tus. In these rooms are seen statues of Nero, Tra- 
jan, Hadrian, Julius Caesar, and others of great fame. 
Diana and her Stag was probably executed by a 
Greek sculptor at Rome in the last century of the 
republic. The goddess, in hunting habit and 
crescent cap, steps briskly forward, grasps an arrow 
in her quiver, looks around for more game to shoot, 



84 TRA VELS. 

when she has dispatched that which she pursues. 
Her forehead is high and has an eager expression. 
Diana, daughter of Zeus, is the goddess of chastity, 
the chase and the woods. With silver bow, and a 
train of nymphs, she follows the flying game in dark 
forests and woody mountains, or she directs her 
arrows against the families of men, and they pass 
away like withered leaves. At Delphi she led the 
muses and Graces. 

The Hall of Caryatides, with fireproof floors 
and ceilings, exhibits busts and statues, and vases 
of merit made by Roman and Greek artists. This 
room is historic. It was once used as an ante- 
chamber of Catharine de Medicis. In this room 
three centuries ago four rebellious chiefs were 
hung. Here while at work the illustrious sculp- 
tor Jean Goujon was killed in the St. Bartho- 
lomew Massacre ; and here was placed the body of 
Henry IV. after his assassination. The most cele- 
brated of the treasures of the Louvre is the Venus 
de Milo, more queenly than the Venus de Medici 
of Florence. It was found in 1820 by a peasant in 
the island of Melos, at the entrance to the Greek 
Archipelago, and sold to the French Government 
for $12,000. Now no money could buy it. This 
splendid statue represents Aphrodite, goddess of 
love and beauty, one of the twelve Greek Divinities. 
Besides love and beauty, we discover that she 
possesses youth and a noble majesty of presence ; 
not a frivolous woman to crave admiration, but one 
to command homage. 



TRAVELS. 85 

Up the main 'stairway and we enter the Gallery 
of Apollo, so called from a fresco in the ceiling. 
This is the most beautiful hall in the Louvre, 210 
feet long, and finished by Napoleon III. Portraits 
of twenty-eight French artists adorn the wall 
panels. The collection of enamels is unsurpassed. 
Gifts of Kings, crowns of Emperors, and priceless 
jewels and gems fill the cases. The sword and 
sceptre of Charlemagne is shown. There is some 
poetic justice in the late sale of the French Crown 
Jewels to provide a fund for aged women. Yonder 
in the end of the gallery a familiar face is met, that 
of a painter ninety years old, short, bent and white- 
haired. He is eating a lunch of bread and choco- 
late. He has painted and sold one hundred minia- 
ture pictures of the Apollo Gallery, at 500 francs 
each. He speaks of the success of his boy and girl 
in the Louvre. " Come and meet my daughter," 
he said. She sits with a palette and brush before a 
Raphael's Madonna. Imagine our surprise, for we 
expected to find a young daughter, but she was 
seventy years old. 

We step into the Grand Salon of Paintings. Its 
arched and paneled ceiling admits abundance of 
soft light upon masterpieces of the various schools. 
The collection of paintings of high rank in this and 
adjoining rooms numbers at least 2,000. Here one 
can study the tender and saintly style of early 
Italian masters, and the magical coloring and touch- 
ing pathos of the great masters, Leonardo da Vinci, 
Raphael and Titian, and wonder at the vast labors 



86 TRA VELS. 

of Corregglo, Rubens and Rembrandt, till the soul 
is surfeited. 

We admire Murillo's famous Immaculate Concep- 
tion, one of his greatest works. Intense religious 
enthusiasm pervades the whole picture, and a halo 
of cherubs gives the mother welcome. With foot 
in the crescent and clothed in the sunshine, she 
fixes her eyes and heart on heavenly things. So 
often the Spanish School drew inspiration from the 
Book of Revelation. " And there appeared a 
great wonder in heaven ; a woman clothed with the 
sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her 
head a crown of twelve stars." Murillo lived about 
270 years ago (1610), a poor boy, who with a will 
did coarse painting for a public fair, thus earning 
the money to study art in Madrid. On his return 
to his home in Seville, he became famous and 
married a lady of wealth and rank. His " Beggar 
Boy " at Munich is very celebrated. He painted 
what he saw and hence is natural. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Luxembourg Palace, and Splendid Works of Art. The 
Paris Exposition of 1878. The Trocadero. M. Adolph 
Thiers, whom Providence used. M. Leon Gambetta shouts 
" Vive la Republique ! " and evokes the Third Republic. At the 
Hotel de Ville, the Great Modern French Orator is Proclaimed 
"The Father of the French Republic." What Bismarck said of 
Thiers. Hugo says, " Chateaubriand or Nothing." His v^rit- 
ings and his Death, or Apotheosis. Lord Tennyson calls Hugo, 
"the World's Greatest Poet." The Rose and the Tomb. 
Retributive justice at Versailles. Presidents, Grevy and Sadi- 
Carnot. Meissonier and De Lesseps. The French Army. 

Crossing the Seine we approach the Luxembourg 
Palace, 300 feet long, erected (1620) for Marie de 
Medicis, with balustrade, terraces, orange trees, and 
statues, all in imitation of her ancestral home in 
Florence. Within these historic walls stirring 
dramas have been enacted. It was a royal residence 
till the Revolution. Here for a time dwelt Napo- 
leon and Josephine. Here were imprisoned Dan- 
ton, Robespierre and others. Here met the Con- 
sulate, the Senate of the first and second empires, 
and here to-day assembles the Senate of the Repub- 
lic. The extensive gardens are very beautiful. 
Embellished with cool fountains, parterres, wide 
walks, shrubbery and flowers. These, and music 
by military bands, make the grounds a popular 



58 TRA VELS, 

resort. The Fountain de Medicis is in Doric style, 
and an imitation of stalactites, smooth waters, 
vases, vines and foliage. In the central niche is 
giant Polyphemus surprising Acis and Galatea. 
The latter, a forest nymph, loved Acis, a handsome 
shepherd. The one-eyed cyclops was furiously 
jealous, and hurled a great stone upon the lovers. 
Galatea escaped, but the shepherd, crushed under 
the weight of the rock, sprang forth a murmuring 
stream. Often one sees here crowds of French 
people, highly pleased perhaps at a score of Eng- 
lish sparrows that skilfully catch crumbs which are 
thrown them. The Palace pavilions are connected 
by galleries, which contain beautiful works of living 
artists. 

We admired "Meditation," or *' Maiden and 
Prayer-Book," a French picture of exquisite color- 
ing which won a gold medal in the Paris Salon. 

" Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, 

Uttered or unexpressed, 
The motion of a hidden fire 

That trembles in the breast." 

— Montgomery. 

The Luxembourg, and private galleries of Paris, 
exhibit the newer styles of French Artists. Ani- 
mal and landscape painting show a fidelity in draw- 
ing, battlefields convey intense vigor, humble and 
peasant life are invested with poetic charms. 
'' Pray, master," said an artist, '' what do you mix 
your colors with?" ''With brains," was the 
reply. 



TRA VELS. 89 

The Trocadero, or Palace of Fetes which stands 
on high ground opposite the bridge of Jena in 
Paris is a huge crescent building in Oriental 
style, and used at the exhibition of 1878. The 
main edifice is circular, and flanked with wings and 
minarets 270 feet high. There are seats for 6,000 
people in the great Concert Hall. Three Inter- 
national Exhibitions have been held in Paris, 
in 1853, iS^7 ^J^d 1878. Though the world since 
1850 has enjoyed many Peace Festivals, yet in the 
last quarter of a century it has witnessed ten 
horrible wars. The beauties of the Trocadero are 
better disclosed by moonlight. From beneath the 
building rushes a cascade terminating in a great 
basin, surmounted by a bull, horse, elephant and 
rhinoceros in gilded metal. Scores of statues 
adorn the edifice. Light and flowers make the 
Trocadero charming both day and night, and a 
colossal statue of Fame fittingly crowns the dome. 
The enormous bazaars in vestibule and hall were 
crowded with statues. A novel use has been found 
for the Eiffel tower. The Paris chief of police has 
placed on its summit certain agents, whose sole 
duty is to note all those chimneys which throw up 
a denser volume of smoke than is allowed by 
law. 

The Champ de Mars across the Seine was the 
site of the Expositions of 1867 and 1878. Exposi- 
tions have taught that there is practically no limit 
to the productive power of humanity. 

At first Thiers' shrill voice in the French Cham- 



90 TEA VELS. 

ber of Deputies caused him to be laughed at, and 
being small of stature the opposition called him 
''A sort of Tom Thumb," and yet he became one 
of the great men of France. He used to say, '* It 
must be that Providence has great confidence in 
me, for when I am called to the front, the most 
embarrassing affairs seem to await my treatment." 
Affairs in France were indeed embarrassing. In 
the spring of 1871 Napoleon III. was a prisoner, 
and Eugenie had fled to England secretly. On 
September 4, 1870, while the Corps Legislatif 
was in session, the crowd surged into the Chamber, 
and shouted " Vive la Republique ! " Gambetta at 
once stepped forward, and with a commanding 
gesture, cried, "• Citizens, we now declare that 
Louis Napoleon and his dynasty have forever ceased 
to reign in France." The people wild with joy 
responded, " To the Hotel de Ville ! " The multi- 
tude crossed the Seine, workmen in their blouses, 
soldiers with their muskets, women and children 
singing the Marseilles Hymn, and in the Hotel de 
Ville the Third Republic was proclaimed. This 
historic spot has always been the rallying place of 
the Liberals. Here Louis XVI. was forced by the 
mob to wear the hated red cap of Liberty. Here 
Louis Blanc in 1848 announced the Second Repub- 
lic, and here in the terrible days of the Commune, 
600 were burned in the building, which the Commu- 
nists themselves had fired, having distributed gun- 
powder and petroleum in all the rooms. Its great 
library of 75,000 volumes was burned. The Hotel 



TRAVELS. 91 

de Ville was rebuilt; it is superb, about 470 feet 
long, and many niches contain statues of famous 
Parisians. 

M. Leon Gambetta was one of the most marked 
characters of these exciting times. He was born 
(1838) at Cahors in Southern France. His mother 
by sale of chocolate sent him to a Paris Law School. 
Leon Hved in a garret, had little money, not much 
food, only one eye, but he allowed nothing to stand 
in the way of his success. Often he stole into the 
Chamber of Deputies to listen to the debates. 
The whole Lnperialistic history was at his tongue's 
end. Jules Favre had a case in court, practically 
the '' Press vs. Napoleon IH." and being ill he sent 
for this young hot-headed Republican to take his 
place. Gambetta improved the rare opportunity 
to make a caustic attack on Napoleon HL, and 
that night the name of Leon Gambetta was on the 
lips of all throughout the cafes of Paris. Gambetta 
rapidly rose to power, and at 32 in the Franco-Ger- 
man war he was practically Dictator. Escaping 
from besieged Paris in a balloon, with almost super- 
human energy he organized three armies of 250,000 
men each, and hurled them against the German wall 
of steel that encircled his capital, only to see the 
three-fourths of a million Frenchmen disappear, as 
the mist before the morning sun. The story is told, 
that he was engaged to a lady worth $7,000,000, 
but as she refused to have Gambetta's aunt, who 
had kept his apartments, live with them, Gambetta 
said, "Adieu, Madame, we were not made-to under- 



92 TRA VELS. 

stand each other." At forty-five years of age the 
dead orator was borne through Paris, the streets 
a bower of flowers, and was hailed by a nation of 
mourners, as the *' Father of the Republic." On 
July 14, 1883, a noble statue costing 355,000 francs, 
representing 280,000 individual subscriptions, was 
erected in the Place du Carrousel to Gambetta as 
the greatest modern orator of France. Besides 
several fragments from his speeches, this inscription 
is given prominent place: 

"A Gambetta, la Patrie et la Republique." 
Adolph Thiers was born (April 15, 1789) under 
the first Republic, came to manhood under Napo- 
leon the Great, waxed strong under Louis XVIII. , 
helped dethrone Charles X., acted as Premier for 
Louis Philippe, witnessed the birth and death of 
the Second Empire, and became the First President 
of the present Republic. Born at Marseilles, his 
parents were poor, educated by friends, he was 
impelled to the front by a favorite maxim ; '* There 
is but one miracle, common sense seconded by 
determined will." He succeeded as a journalist, 
and wrote the history of the French Revolution, ten 
volumes, in four years. He postponed a marriage 
engagement lest it should hinder his success. The 
lady's indignant father challenged him ; Thiers 
accepted, but declined to fire in response to his 
adversary's shot, and even later provided well for 
his opponent. When he died Bismarck said, " Eu- 
rope has lost her only great Statesman." The 
new monument to M. Thiers is the finest in the 



TRAVELS, 93 

famous cemetery of Pere La Chaise. It is in the 
form of a chapel over the entrance to which is the 
motto, chosen by himself and inscribed on green 
porphyry in letters of gold, Patriam dilexit, virtutem 
coluit ; -He loved his country, and practiced virtue. 
We visited Victor Hugo, whom the London 
Times says *' was the greatest poet since Goethe." 
He was born February 26, 1802, in Eastern France 
near Switzerland. He was so frail as a child that 
the doctor said he could not live. At eight he read 
Latin fluently. He was the idol of an intellectual 
mother, who stimulated him to be great. At thir- 
teen he wrote stories, odes, tragedies, and dedicated 
each to his mother. A year later Victor wrote in 
his journal, " I will be Chateaubriand or nothing." 
When he lamented his shabby clothes, his mother 
replied, not unlike the reply made by Mother Gar- 
field to her son James, '' Men are rated by their 
intelligence and not by their dress." When she 
was ill, Victor worked all night by her bedside, and 
won a gold lily, an Academy prize. She died when 
he was nineteen, leaving her son broken-hearted 
and in poverty. But he persevered. He revolu- 
tionized letters, headed a new school, was elected 
a member of the Academy, and Louis Philippe 
made him Peer. He wrote of the poor and 
wretched. His pen terrified Napoleon HL, who 
exiled him. Then he wrote Napoleon le Petit, 
and Les Miserables ; the latter was printed simul- 
taneously in ten cities, and brought him $80,- 
000. Napoleon HL offered him forgiveness, but 



94 TRA VELS. 

he said, *' When liberty returns, I will return." 
And return he did, when Napoleon III. was in 
exile, and France free. His wife Adele and son 
were dead, and his hair was white, as he greeted his 
lovely grandchildren. Victor Hugo's will, when 
admitted to probate, showed his property in Eng- 
land to be valued at $450,000, and his daughter and 
grandchildren his chief heirs. It was indeed profit- 
able work to write the annals of the poor and 
wretched. 

Hugo lived in a cream-colored house on an 
avenue in Paris named in honor of him. He made 
toys, and romped, and wrote a book for the chil- 
dren on '' The Art of being a Grandfather." He 
said, '' The child is the field of the coming genera- 
tion ; what grows in it will be the harvest of the 
next age." In the Isle of Jersey every Christmas 
he gave a dinner to poor children, and he with his 
family waited upon them. Hugo was always 
touched by kindness of heart. He gave a cabman 
a '* Napoleon," four dollars in gold, which the cab- 
man said should go for charity. Hugo responded, 
" Come, then, and dine with me." He placed 
goodness before everything else. On his sick-bed 
he said, " I am ready to go ; death closes on the 
twilight, it opens on the dawn." " Adieu, Jeanne, 
adieu," were his last words to his idolized grand- 
daughter. He died on a May-day noon (1885), 
eighty-three years old. 

The Republic placed her devoted son, Hugo, 
beneath the Triumphal Arch, around which green 




VICTOR HUGO AND HIS GRANDCHILDREN. 



TRA VELS. 95 

vestal fires burned, and dragoons stood guard. 
Twenty years before, in honor of his birthday, a 
half million people passed his home, and by their 
gifts made it a bower of flowers. Now, all France 
was in mourning. Hugo was worshipped as a Guard- 
ian Divinity of " Liberty, Equality and Fraternity." 
At noon eloquent words were spoken in presence 
of the world's illustrious men. The President of 
the Senate said, *' Hugo constantly pursued the 
highest ideals of justice and humanity." Floquet 
said, '' Not a funeral, but an apotheosis," and a 
member of the Academy exclaimed, '* To the sover- 
eign poet France renders sovereign honors." The 
chestnut trees were in full bloom as the procession 
moved towards the Place de la Concorde. Liehts 
were veiled, banners draped, and minute guns fired 
as soldiers of the Republic, societies of every name, 
boys of the Public Schools, cars laden with flowers, 
followed the pauper's hearse in which Hugo was 
borne, according to his last wish, because he had 
been a poor lad, and loved the poor ; and to them 
he left money in his will. George, his handsome, 
manly grandson, with dark hair and eyes, walked 
alone behind the cofHn. A million people stood 
with uncovered heads, as the hearse moved through 
the Place de la Concorde and across the Seine to 
the Pantheon. After six weary hours the end of 
the procession was just leaving the Arch of Triumph 
as the head arrived at the Pantheon, the French 
Westminster Abbey, on the fagade of which are 
inscribed the words, *' Great Men whom their Coun- 



go TRA VELS. 

try wish to Honor." As the body was borne up 
the steps, hundreds of white doves were let loose 
to float over it, and the church was filled with 
wreaths, sent from America as well as Europe. 
Hugo had said, " I love America as a Fatherland." 
" The great Republic of Washington is a glory to 
civilization." Lord Tennyson's wreath bore the 
words, *' To the World's Greatest Poet." Beside the 
ashes of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Mirabeau, nota- 
bles of the 1 8th century, were laid the remains of 
Victor Hugo ; ranked by some as the greatest poet, 
novelist, dramatist and statesman of the 19th cen- 
tury. 

Hugo makes " The Rose ask of the Tomb : 

What doest thou with treasures rare. 
Thou hidest deep from light and air. 
Until the day of doom ? " 

" The Tomb said : 

Flower of love 

I make of every treasure rare, 
Hidden so deep from light and air, 
A soul for heaven above." 

Omnibuses now take us to Versailles, southwest 
of Paris, and recently the headquarters of the 
German army. Victor Hugo was fond of journey- 
ing on the top of omnibuses, and before he died he 
gave 2,000 francs to the drivers. Our drive skirts 
the Seine, intersects the fortifications, and leaving 
St. Cloud to the right, we cross the Seine and 
pass through Sevres noted for its Porcelain manu- 



TRA VELS. 97 

factory. Forty minutes more brings us in sight of 
Versailles. Beyond the residences in the fore- 
ground rise a group of buildings where the French 
Kings, Louis XIV., XVI., and XVIIL, lived, (1672, 
1790). The approach is by an avenue 300 feet 
wide, with trees finely planted. Versailles, with 
50,000 population, is ten miles from Paris and one 
of the handsomest towns in Europe. Here for 
eight years, after the German army recrossed the 
Rhine, the seat of the French Government was 
situated. Here two centuries ago Louis XIV., 
styled the Grand Monarch, determined to build the 
marvel of Europe. At one time he employed 
36,000 men and 6,000 horses on palace and grounds, 
the cost of which was $200,000,000. The spacious 
gardens or park lie west of the palace. Crossing 
the Court Royal, we ascend the marble stairway, 
busts of celebrated men on every side, and enter 
the Hall of Mirrors, or Hall of Louis XIV., 240 feet 
long, and superbly decorated in marble and frescoes. 
On the left, the seventeen arched windows com- 
mand fine views of extensive gardens and ornamental 
sheets of waters. Opposite the windows are 
mirrors in gilded niches. Here on the 19th of 
January, 1 871, the anniversary of the crowning of 
Frederick the Great, occurred the greatest German 
ceremony of modern times. Against the middle 
window was erected a graceful altar with lighted 
candles, behind which sat three clergymen. Sol- 
diers wearing iron crosses held standards of many 
regiments. Groups of hereditary princes, dukes. 



95 TRA VELS. 

distinguished army officers, and personages from 
all nations, stood in long rows down the hall. The 
effective paintings in the ceiling tell of the achieve- 
ments of Louis XIV., of his triumphs over the 
Germans. The walls are decorated in tastefully 
carved marble, truly a regal hall for so dramatic a 
ceremony. At twelve o'clock King William came 
accompanied by Bismarck, Von Moltke, and the 
Crown Prince Leopold, who unwittingly provoked 
the war. Eloquent words, historical and religious, 
were spoken. The King accepted the title of 
*' Emperor of Re-United Germany," and Bismarck 
read the proclamation to the German people. 
Hearty congratulations greeted the new Emperor, 
and amid the waving of victorious standards, ech- 
oes of national hymns and triumphal marches, the 
historic scene closed. Retributive justice, indeed! 

We have neither time nor space to describe the 
many magnificent rooms of the Palace, and their 
contents, nor space to mention much of the rare 
beauty of the Palace gardens. What superb back- 
grounds these gardens furnished for the brilliant 
fetes of the Grand Monarch may be easily imagined 
by once witnessing the vast crowds of spectators 
attracted here on Sundays, when all the fountains 
are at play. 

The German indemnity of 5,000,000,000 of francs 
was paid in two years by Thiers, although in- 
triguing monarchists caused his retirement, and 
the election in 1873 of General MacMahon, who 
held office six years. But the French people feared 



TRA VELS. 99 

monarchy, and in 1879 made Grevy their third 
President. Grevy, who had said over Thiers' grave, 
*' Let us set ourselves to show, like him, that the 
Republic is a government of order, peace and 
liberty," was equal to his high calling. He was a 
lawyer by profession, a man of sterling good sense, 
plain, honest, noble and devoted to the Republic. 
Both he and Thiers were vigorously opposed to 
the war with Prussia. 

Meissonier furnished the late Exposition with 
paintings of rare beauty. He came to Paris nine- 
teen years old, poor and unknown. Early he 
painted canvas in the Louvre for one dollar per 
yard ; now a tiny painting only six inches square 
brings $6,000. At thirty-six he won a gold medal. 
His Chess Players, because of the vast amount of 
skill in a small space, attracted crowds. The critics 
said, '' Meissonier can paint only ordinary scenes.'' 
Then he painted Napoleon's Retreat from Russia. 
His Cavalry Charge brought $30,000 in Cincinnati, 
and for the Battle of Friedland on which he worked 
fifteen years, A. T. Stewart paid $60,000. Once 
told that he was fortunate to own so many Meisson- 
iers, ^' No, No," he replied ; '' they are too dear." 
His homes in Paris and at Poissy, are lovely in the 
midst of flowers, fountains and shade. Three of his 
masterpieces at his death will go to the Louvre. 
France is proud of her great men. Here are two 
stories told of the great painter. 

M. Meissonier, who was inflicted with incipient 
paralysis, was told that a friend had sprained his 



lOO TRAVELS. 

ankle. " Lucky man ! " he exclaimed, " if I could 
only have broken both legs, and had my thumb free, 
how happy I should be. I could then make some 
attempt to paint in my bed. But not to be able 
to paint at all ! I would willingly give everything 
I possess in this world for the use of my right 
thumb ! " 

Meissonier, had a gardener who was a botanist 
and a great wag. He knew the seeds of all sorts of 
plants, and Meissonier was always trying and 
always failing to puzzle him. " I have got him 
now," said Meissonier to some friends at a dinner 
party, and he showed them a package of the roe of 
dried herrings. Then he sent for the gardener. 
All the guests smiled. The gardener arrived. " Do 
you know those seeds ? " Meissonier asked. The 
gardener examined them with great attention. 
"Oh, yes," said he at last, ''that is the seed of the 
polypus fluximus, a very rare tropical plant." A 
smile of triumph lighted the face of Meissonier. 
" How long will it take the seed to come up ? " he 
asked. " Fifteen days," said the gardener. At the 
end of fifteen days the guests were once more at 
table. After dinner the gardener was announced. 
" M. Meissonier," he said, " the plants are above 
the ground." " Oh, this is too much," said the 
great painter, and all went into the garden to be- 
hold the botanical wonder. The gardener lifted up 
a glass bell, under which was a little bed carefully 
made, and in which three rows of red herrings were 
sticking up their heads. The laugh surely was 



TRAVELS, 1 01 

against Melssonier. He discharged the gardener, 
but took him back the next day. 

Another great Frenchman is Ferdinand De 
Lesseps, who opened up highways to India. When 
Consul in Egypt and Spain he won medals for hero- 
ism. In 1854 he started the Suez Canal project 
and laid the plans before the Capitals of Europe. 
The greatest of difficulties, lack of money, tiresome 
delays, and jealousies of nations, were finally over- 
come. November 17, 1869, the great ship way was 
opened in the presence of Kings and Emperors. 
He received the Decorations of France, the Albert 
Gold Medal, and the Cross of the Star of India. 
Now every year the passage of thousands of ships 
through this new ship canal earns in tolls millions 
of dollars. 

A picturesque sight often seen on the Bois de 
Boulogne was Ferdinand De Lesseps riding, his 
white hair floating in the wind, accompanied by 
his many pretty children mounted on ponies. 
When eighty-two years old, indefatigable, courteous, 
and undaunted, he sought to cut the Isthmus of 
Panama. His present young wife, a second one, 
learning of his heroic deeds, desired acquaintance, 
and it was " love at first sight." 

Since the Empire succumbed a quarter of a cen- 
tury ago to the French Republic, France has aver- 
aged a new cabinet yearly. 

M. Thiers, Marshal MacMahon, M. Jules Grevy, 
M. Sadi-Carnot, and M. Felix Faure have been the 
presidents of the Third French Republic. 



I02 TRAVELS, 

In the late political crisis the Palace of the 
Elysee, home of Ex-President Grevy, had degener- 
ated into a fourth rate stock exchange, and Sadi- 
Carnot, Minister of Finance, had resigned office 
rather than authorize an illegal restitution of $15, 
000 for the Public Treasury. This accentuated his 
name as an available compromise candidate, and 
practically he was unanimously elected by the 
French Congress. He assured the world that 
while he was at the head of the French Republic, 
there should be no war with Germany. He kept 
his word. 

Sadi-Carnot, the fourth president (who was as- 
sassinated) had a fine figure, not above the average 
height, dark hair and eyes, an aquiline nose and a 
face of Persian character. Sadi, prefix of Carnot, 
is the name of a Persian poet, celebrated for his 
description of roses, and admired by Carnot's 
ancestors. Sadi-Carnot was born 1837 at Limoges ; 
the son and grandson of distinguished Republican 
statesmen, a top classman in the polytechnical 
school. He became a civil engineer, and served in 
the Franco Prussian war, as his grandsire had 
fought under Napoleon I. 

The French army, from time immemorial, has 
been the nation's pride. A thrill of exultation 
comes to every Frenchman who studies the past 
history of his brave country. To this sentiment 
has been added, since 1870, an insatiable thirst for 
revenge, and the army, though beaten by the Ger- 
mans has under the law, enacted July 27, 1872, be- 



TRAVELS. 103 

come a greater factor than ever in the nation's ex- 
istence. By its provision every citizen twenty 
years old, except a few exempted, is liable to twenty 
years' service in the regular and territorial armies 
and reserves . The army of France numbers 1,750 
000 men ready to serve under the Tri-color. The 
French are not good riders, and hence are weak in 
their cavalry, but their artillery, 2,000 guns of 
steel, outnumber those of the German army. France 
has become a Republic of soldiers dressed in blue 
tunic and cardinal trousers, but where is the man to 
lead? 



CHAPTER VII. 

Tickets for Rome. Ostend to Bruges and Ghent. Ant- 
werp. " Paris in Miniature." People of Belgium. Lace-mak- 
ing. Leopold n. Famous Town Halls. Cologne, and Her 
Masterpiece. A " Modern Athens." Through the Tyrol. 
♦• The Bride of the Adriatic." The Lion of St. Mark, Flor- 
ence on the Arno. Art Treasures. '' The Eternal City." 
Unequaled St. Peter's. The Vatican, and the Popes. Roman 
Forum. The Colossal Colosseum. Gigantic Baths. Beautiful 
Naples. Molten Lava of Pompeii. Pisa, and the Echo of the 
Baptistery. The Shore Ride to Genoa. Columbus' Beautiful 
City. The World's Most Magnificent Cathedral. Snow-clad 
Alps. Through Mt. Cenis Tunnel to Paris and Liverpool. 
A Return to New York. Places Visited on European Trip 
Number One. 

On the last of October we returned from the 
Paris Exposition of 1878 to London and Birming- 
ham. Mrs. Bolton was to sail for home on Novem- 
ber 26, and both thinking that now was our only 
chance to see Rome, we purchased of Thomas Cook 
& Son, at Ludgate Circus, tourist tickets from Lon- 
don to Rome, via Munich, and return. We had 
three weeks in which to do the trip. The autumn 
and the spring are the best seasons in which to make 
a trip to Italy, the summer being too hot and the 
winter too wet and chilly. 

Crossing the North Sea, we came first to Ostend, 



TRAVELS. 105 

the second seaport of Belgium, a favorite watering 
place, and visited annually by many thousands of 
persons. About 400 bathing machines are on the 
beach. Every bather is provided with a costume. 
The sexes are not separated as at French water- 
ing places. Often the luminous appearance of the 
sea, caused by innumerable mollusca, gives great 
pleasure to the people, old and young. 

Eight miles east is Bruges (Bridges), a fortified 
city of 50,000 population, and capital of West 
Flanders. Of all the Belgian cities Bruges has 
best preserved its mediaeval characteristics. Broad 
streets and quaint homes recall its ancient glory. 
Here, when Bruges had 200,000 population, richly 
laden vessels from Genoa, Venice and Constantino- 
ple discharged their cargoes. Huge warehouses 
groaned beneath the weight of Flemish linens, 
English wools and Persian silks. In 1301, when 
Joanna of Navarre with her husband (Philip le Bel 
of France) visited Bruges and beheld the sumptu- 
ous costumes of the inhabitants, she exclaimed, '' I 
imagine myself alone to be Queen, but I see here 
hundreds of persons whose attire vies with my own." 

In the marketplace stands the belfry, old and 
brown, 350 feet high. Its chimes are fine. From 
the top of the tower one can almost see the length 
of Belgium, one of the smallest and youngest 
countries of Europe, and yet second to none in 
industry and social prosperity of its people. It is 
so thickly studded with cities and villages that 
Philip II. of Spain, once said " Belgium is only one 



I06 77?^ VELS. 

large town." It has been called the Garden and 
the Cock pit of Europe. Formerly it was said that 
" Louvain rejoices in her learned men, Brussels in 
noble men, Antwerp in money, and Bruges in 
pretty girls." Bruges is connected by two deep 
channels with the North Sea, one of which termin- 
ates at Ostend. 

" Fair city, worthy of her ancient fame ! 

The season of her splendor is gone by. 
Yet everywhere its monuments remain : 

Temples which rear their stately heads on high, 
Canals that intersect the fertile plain, 

Wide streets and squares, with many a court and hall, 
Spacious and undefaced, but ancient all. 

When I may read of tilts in days of old, 
Of tournays graced by chieftains of renown, 

Fair dames, grave citizens, and warriors bold. 
If fancy could portray some stately town. 

Which of such pomp fit theatre may be. 
Fair Bruges, I shall then remember thee." 

In the 14th century Bruges was the commercial 
center of Europe. Here wealthy citizens retired, 
and here was instituted the Title of the Golden 
Fleece, conferred upon those who poured the great- 
est flood of wealth into its coffers. 

Ghent, the capital of East Flanders, is about 
midway between Ostend and Brussels. The boat- 
men's houses in Ghent are of quaint architecture, 
and stand with gables to the street A network of 
canals spanned by over eighty bridges, branch off 
in all directions. Fantastic buildings flank streets 



TRAVELS. 107 

and squares ; one is called the " Friday Market," 
where weekly thousands of pieces of linen are 
exposed for sale. Ghent is called the " Belgium 
Manchester," and is famous for cotton, linen and 
lace goods. In the year 1400 the weavers alone 
numbered 40,000, and could furnish 18,000 fighting 
men for their guild. A bell was rung several times 
a day to summon them to their work and to their 
meals ; and while it rang few ventured into the 
streets lest they encounter the vast living streams 
of people hurrying in every direction. The Treaty 
which closed the War of 18 12, between Great 
Britain and the United States, was signed here on 
December 14, 1814. 

Brussels, the Capital of Belgium, is well called a 
** Paris in miniature." It has gardens like those of 
the Tuileries, wide boulevards that encircle the 
city, shops, cafes, and excellent operas and concerts. 
The Belgians are very fond of music. Brussels, 
including suburbs, has over 400,000 population. 

Belgium is the most densely populated portion 
of Europe. The people mostly speak French and 
German. The Germans however are far more 
numerous. Though the position between France 
and Germany has made it the battle-ground of 
Europe, the inhabitants are very peaceful. A net- 
work of railways intersects this busy little kingdom. 
The trade of Belgium is of great importance. 
Everywhere the people are indefatigable workers. 
Who has not heard of her fine linens, carpets, 
porcelains, cotton goods and laces ? Lace making 



I08 TRAVELS. 

is one of the important industries of Belgium. At 
an early period Venetian point lace was the most 
highly valued of all laces. In the sixteenth century 
Flemish, Brussels Point, and Mechlin laces rivaled 
the Italian. In Belgium alone 150,000 women are 
employed in this industry, and there are nearly 900 
lace schools. The finest quality is spun in dark, 
damp underground rooms, to avoid the dry air, 
which causes the thread to break. This fine thread 
is sometimes sold at $2500 a pound. There are 
about 500,000 lace makers in Europe earning from 
forty to ninety cents a day. At the Exposition in 
1867, a lace dress was shown which required forty 
women seven years to make. The best known 
English lace is Honiton, so called from a town in 
Devonshire, and made fashionable because the 
Queen ordered a wedding veil to be made of Honi- 
ton lace. To help the lace workers two of her 
daughters and the Princess of Wales also follow- 
ed her example in purchasing this lace. Lace mak- 
ing by machinery was begun at Nottingham, Eng- 
land, at the beginning of the present century, 
and it has wonderfully cheapened some varieties 
of lace. 

The upper part of Brussels, which was rebuilt 
after the great fire of 1 73 1, contains the Royal Palace, 
ofifices of the Government, the Embassies, and the 
mansions of the nobility and gentry. In one of these 
fine houses occurred the well-known ball, given on 
the eve of the Battle of Waterloo by the Duchess of 
Richmond, and attended by the Duke of Welling- 



TRAVELS. 109 

ton. It is only ten miles south to fatal Waterloo, 
where the Man of Destiny received his death-blow. 

The lower part of the town is devoted to industry 
and commerce. To gain a better idea of the ancient 
glory of Brussels, we visited the large mediaeval 
market-place, and studied the quaint guild-houses, 
the gables of which contain ships and other symbols 
suggesting trades or occupations. The Hotel de 
Ville is also interesting ; its principal facade is 
Gothic in style, and faces the market-place ; above 
the roof rises a graceful open spire. The many 
niches of the front are filled with statues of Dukes 
of Brabant. 

A race of Celtic origin originally occupied Bel- 
gium, which later was overrun by Teutonic invad- 
ers ; then it was conquered by Caesar and after- 
wards by the Salic Franks. Next arose the heredi- 
tary principalities of East and West Flanders, both 
of which attained to great prosperity by their 
industries, and after severe struggles with France 
finally became independent. Philip the Bold, and 
others, loved splendor, and employed artists of 
every kind. In the sixteenth century the Nether, 
lands suffered greatly under Spanish supremacy, 
especially under the Duke of Alva, whose extreme 
cruelty in 1568 resulted in the famous revolt of the 
United Netherlands. 

Holland achieved success while the Southern 
Provinces continued to groan under the oppressive 
yoke of the Spaniards, the same as the Cubans of 
to-day, who must pay to Spain their annual revenue 



no TRAVELS. 

of $2,OCX),ooo. After fierce and protracted struggles, 
Belgium recovered her civic liberty. Under Arch- 
duke Albert and his wife, art in Belgium was 
encouraged, Rubens was appointed Court-painter 
and resided at Antwerp, the centre of Flemish art. 
Many changes took place, till at length, by the 
Treaty of London of June 28th, 1 814, William of 
Orange occupied the newly constituted throne of 
the Kingdom of the Netherlands, composed of Bel- 
gium and Holland. 

Again the Netherlands were separatea by the 
Revolution of 1830, when Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, 
the favorite uncle of Queen Victoria, ascended the 
Belgian throne, with the approval of the five Great 
Powers, taking the title of Leopold L 

The government of Belgium is a constitutional 
monarchy, but liberal in its tendency. Leopold IL, 
grandson of Louis Philippe of France, was born at 
Brussels in 1835 and came to the throne on the 
death of his father Leopold L, in 1865. His father 
left his son $5,000,000, which had been received from 
Princess Charlotte of England. Leopold H. is six 
feet tall, cordial, scholarly, and the most democratic 
of kings. Of his three daughters, Stephanie in 1881 
married Rudolph, the Crown Prince of Austria, 
who later ended his life mysteriously at Meyerling. 
His only son died young. He is at the head of the 
Liternational African Association, under which 
Mr. Henry M. Stanley, M. P., has established trad- 
ing stations through the Dark Continent. Scandal 
and tragedy have hovered about Leopold H. \\\ a 



TRA VELS. 1 1 1 

castle near Brussels is confined a raving maniac, the 
King's sister, Charlotte, the unfortunate Ex- 
Empress of Mexico. She still calls for her poor 
Maximilian. 

The area of Belgium is about 11,400 square 
miles. Some of Belgium's districts are the most 
densely populated of any in the world, except per- 
haps some of the manufacturing localities in Eng- 
land. 

Roman Catholics greatly predominate. -The 
secular clergy number nearly 5,000, and each receives 
annually from the government an average stipend 
of about $150. Over 12,000 nuns and sisters of 
charity are engaged in tuition and attendance on 
the sick and poor. 

As Germany is renowned for castles, and France 
for cathedrals, so Belgium rightly boasts of her 
town halls. The Louvain Hotel de Ville is a 
very rich example of late Gothic architecture. 
The building consists of three stories, each of 
which has ten pointed windows in the princi- 
pal facade, and it is covered with a lofty roof sur- 
rounded with an open balustrade. At the four cor- 
ners and from the center of the gables spring six 
slender octagonal turrets, terminating in open spires. 
The three facades are lavishly enriched with sculp- 
tures, representing in the lower story representative 
citizens of Louvain, in the second story mediae- 
val burghers, and in the uppermost story the sover- 
eigns of the land. Though it resembles the town 
halls of Bruges, Ghent, and other Belgian cities. 



112 TRAVELS. 

yet it surpasses them all in elegance and harmony 
of design. In 1378 thirteen magistrates of noble 
family were thrown from its windows, and received 
by the people below on the points of their spears. 
Repeated tyrannical acts forced thousands of skilled 
laborers to transplant their handicraft to Holland 
and England. The decay of Louvain dates from 
that selfish period. 

The railway to Antwerp, passes north through 
Vilvorde, a small town, where in 1536 William Tyn- 
dale, the zealous English reformer, and translator 
of the Bible, was chained to a stake, strangled, and 
burnt to ashes. His last words were, '' Lord open 
the King of England's eyes." The year after his 
martyrdom the Bible by royal command was pub- 
lished, and placed in every church in England for 
the use of the people. 

Antwerp is the principal seaport of Belgium, and 
in the i6th century became a cradle of art, second 
only to Florence. 

The modern revival of art, which began about 
the end of the first quarter of the 19th Century, 
took its rise in this most interesting city of Belgium. 
The Academy of Antwerp quickened the study of 
technique and coloring. 

Though Antwerp is sixty miles from the sea, yet 
the water of the River Schelde is kept thirty feet in 
depth at high tide. At the height of Antwerp's 
prosperity in the i6th Century a hundred or more 
vessels arrived and departed daily. Under Emperor 
Charles V. Antwerp rivalled even Venice itself. 



TEA VELS. 1 1 3 

Her great fairs attracted merchants from all parts 
of the civilized world. Her decline was largely due 
to the Spanish sword and the intrigues of her 
Dutch rivals in trade. 

Antwerp is one of the strongest fortresses in 
Europe. Massive ramparts twelve miles in length 
surround the city, and Napoleon, recognizing its 
strategical importance, caused the new harbor and 
quays to be constructed. 

Further east is Liege on the Meuse River. Her 
125,000 people are largely engaged in the manu- 
facture of engines, weapons of all kinds, and in the 
mining of coal. 

At length having passed Aix-La-Chapelle, a 
favorite residence of Charlemagne, we enter the 
German Empire at Cologne, the metropolis of the 
Rhenish Provinces. It covers a semi-circle of one 
mile on the left bank of the Rhine. It was founded 
37 B. C. and was named after the wife of a Roman 
Emperor. Here the mother of Nero was born. In 
the Middle Ages its Archbishops crowned Emper- 
ors. In Cologne was founded the famous Hansea- 
tic League, organized in mediaeval times for the 
protection and expansion of agriculture, commerce, 
and trade generally. At the height of its power 
the League numbered eighty-five cities. Finally 
the attempt to monopolize, to declare war and 
peace, and exercise sovereign power, brought its 
dissolution. Its thirty-four parks and squares, its 
magnificent buildings, in Romanesque and Gothic 
styles, tell of its former power and grandeur. 



114 TRAVELS. 

Since the overthrow of Napoleon, and its annexa- 
tion to Prussia, better days have come to Cologne, 
and to-day it boasts of 150,000 population. Its 
score or more of factories export cologne to all 
parts of the world. We enjoyed a brief study of 
the wonderful cathedral ; truly a masterpiece in 
Gothic architecture. 

We made few stops in the Rhine Valley, al- 
though replete with castle, story and legend, for 
our real objective point was Rome, the Eternal 
City. We went via Darmstadt, and came to 
Munich, the capital of Bavaria, by the Gate of 
Victory. Louis I. was ambitious to create at 
Munich a Modern Athens, and the streets are 
graced with large buildings of Greek, Roman and 
Moorish styles of architecture. King Louis L lies 
buried in an Italian basilica rich in marbles and 
frescoes. Kaulbach's beautiful frescoes adorn the 
exterior of the New Pinacothek. This is a reposi- 
tory of modern paintings rich in color, chiefly of 
the Munich school. The Old Pinacothek has 1400 
paintings, many by old masters. No wonder that 
students from all parts of the world flock to Munich, 
a veritable paradise for artists. Expenses here are 
at a minimum, and the interests of art students are 
recognized by reduced railway tickets, cheap 
tickets to the Opera, and immunities from arrest, 
except for grossest crimes. 

Much artistic taste is displayed in the cemeteries 
of Munich. Since the great plague of a century ago 
a law requires that immediately after death all 



TRA VELS. 1 1 5 

bodies, (and the law applies to rich and poor alike), 
remain in glass covered rooms at the cemeteries for 
three days prior to burial. Always in sight are 
lovely children, the middle aged, and white haired, 
and flowers in profusion. The pale hand of each 
corpse clings to a handle with wire connection, so 
that a restored person may ring a bell. The keeper 
told us that '* in a hundred years not a signal had 
been made." If we so desire, the horrors of corrup- 
tion m.ay belong to the past, for the future holds 
for all our cities the ideal crematory. Beneath 
stately trees a sacred temple is approached. Fond- 
ly the ivy clings to the Doric portico. The flower 
strewn bier is tenderly borne into a high marble 
hall warmed with stained glass and soft music. 
The loved one is placed on a dais, and with the 
words ''ashes to ashes" it noislessly sinks from 
sight. After appropriate words and songs, the 
dais returns a simple memorial urn, with name, 
dates, and pure white ashes only, for the spirit has 
gone to 

" The undiscovered country, from whose bourn 
No traveler returns." 

A half dozen hours by rail via Rosenheim brought 
us to Innsbruck, the capital of Tyrol, 1890 feet above 
the sea. Besides other objects of interest, it is 
worth while to visit here the museum, which 
abounds in Tyrolese curiosities, etc. Thence we 
rode over the Brenner Pass (4588 feet), the lowest 
of the great Alpine passes, south to Verona, Italy. 



Il6 TRAVELS. 

In spite of the long tin cylinders of hot water in the 
cars the night trip was cold and disagreeable. 

Verona, situated near the gorges of the Tyrol and 
surrounded by fortresses, is an important defense 
of Upper Italy. The city is rightly proud of its 
perfect Roman amphitheatre, which is in use to-day. 
Verona is the birthplace of Catullus, the Elder 
Pliny, Paul Veronese, and other distinguished inen. 

We entered Venice at four o'clock in the morning, 
crossing a lagoon from the main land on an em- 
bankment thirty feet in width and two miles 
long. This grand viaduct is supported upon 222 
arches. 

Scarcely was the early light of dawn visible in 
the eastern horizon, when at the railway station we 
took one of the many gondolas, or water cabs, for 
a hotel which we had selected on advice of our 
guide book. It was a weird ride indeed, with a 
trained gondolier in his strange boat, propelled by a 
single oar, and along the Grand Canal, or highway, 
dodging other gondolas till the gondolier slowly 
guided his boat towards some stone steps, and in 
response to his use of the door knocker, we were 
given a welcome to our first hotel in Italy. After 
bread and coffee, nothing seemed so welcome as a 
rest of a few hours, for the night's ride on the 
Paduan Railway was a tedious one. 

To enjoy Venice profitably one needs to have 
read Ruskin's Stones of Venice, and other books, 
and have ten days or more time in this ancient city. 

But we kept Rome in mind, hired a good gondo- 



TRAVELS. 117 

lier-guide and started out to do the Grand Canal. 
Venice is built on piles on a group of nearly a 
hundred islands in a great lagoon, and is the growth 
of centuries. These islands are separated by 
about 150 canals and crossed by 360 bridges. 

Venice is most unique in location, construction, 
and its possibilities of defence. It is defended on 
the land side by water, and on the east, or sea side, 
by land, batteries being placed on a narrow sand- 
bank that also wards off the storms of the Adriatic. 
For hundreds of years prior to the i6th century 
Venice was the first maritime and commercial city 
in the world. The Canalazzo, or Grand Canal, 100 
to 180 feet wide, winds through the city in the 
shape of a letter S, forming a great and central 
thoroughfare. Our gondola takes us along the 
smooth, marine Broadway, under the single marble 
arch, past magnificent palaces and blocks built to 
the water's edge, on to the Ghetto, or Jews' quarters, 
and back again to the Rialto. Thence we walked 
through the Merceria, a series of narrow streets on 
which are to be found the best shops. Venice is 
a labyrinth of canals, and walks from four to six 
feet wide. 

Few if any " discovery trips *' in Europe afford a 
grander climax than is revealed on La Piazza, and 
the Piazzetta, a large and small public square adjoin- 
ing each other. Placing these two squares stand 
superb St. Mark's church, with the Clock Tower, 
the old and new palaces, the tall Campanile or Bell 
Tower, the elegant Ducal Palace, the Library and 



Il8 TRAVELS. 

Mint. South or seaward stand the famous granite 
columns bearing the statue of St. Theodore, and 
the winged Hon of St. Mark. The many colored 
gondolas, moving vessels, and domed churches on 
the blue waters form a pretty picture. Weeks are 
necessary to describe or enjoy the magic and 
splendor of Venice, Bride of the Adriatic. 

We were interested in the manufacture of 
colored and ornamental glass, including counterfeit 
gems, jewelry, etc. Though trade in Venice has 
sadly declined, yet the people are still busy pro- 
ducing woolen cloth, velvet, silks, laces, cloth of 
gold, mirrors, pearls, etc. Venice also continues to 
print those editions of the classics which even in 
early times were celebrated over all Europe. 

Our Venetian landlord graciously bade us good 
morning, and his stairway was lined with servants 
with outstretched hands. 

It is ten miles by rail to Bologna, which is noted 
for the number of its arcades, also for its pictur- 
esque mediaeval architecture. The railway, which 
crosses the Apennines from the plains of Lombardy 
to the rich valley of Arno, is a grand succession of 
tunnels, some a mile long, galleries, bridges and 
viaducts. These wild mountain scenes finally give 
way to the enticing pictures of the fertile plains of 
Tuscany, The Garden of Italy. 

The hotels and pensions of Florence are good. 
We enjoyed her ancient bridges over the Arno. 
The oldest, built in 1235, was recently restored ; 
the Vecchio, built a century later, contains a double 



TRAVELS. 119 

line of shops, in the windows of which goldsmiths 
hang an infinite variety of pretty things, the Flor- 
entine mosaics, ornaments of malachite and coral, 
strings of pearls, rings and bracelets ; another bridge 
contains statues of the seasons. These old bridges 
contrast strongly with a couple of modern suspen- 
sion bridges of iron. Tourists hasten to the Piazza 
della Signoria, a historic and business center. Here 
are the Court and Old Capitol of the Republic, 
which are adorned with beautiful fountains and 
statues and frescoes by famous artists. Near is the 
famous Uffizi Gallery, founded by the Medici. It 
contains one of the choicest art collections in the 
w^orld, paintings by Raphael, Michael Angelo, Ti- 
tian, Correggio, etc. Hawthorne says of the inner 
Tribune where is seen the Venus de Medici, and 
the Dancing Fawn, that " it is the richest room in 
all the world, a heart that draws all hearts to it." 
A covered way across the Arno leads to the Pitti 
Palace, another fine Art Gallery. The Duomo, or 
Cathedral, with its wonderful dome, is of white 
marble, and very grand. Giotto's unrivaled work is 
the Campanile, 300 feet high, and is coated with 
many colored marbles and adorned with statues 
and reliefs by great masters. The three bronze 
doors of the Baptistery by Ghiberti elicited the well- 
known eulogy from Michael Angelo, '' worthy to be 
the gates of Paradise." The sun was low when we 
stepped into Santa Croce where Michael Angelo is 
buried, and where we saw much fine sculpture 
and painting, and later, as the sun set in brilliant 



120 TRAVELS. 

colors, we stood together by the grave of Mrs. 
Browning. 

One has choice of four routes to Rome, about 
225 miles, from Florence. We were recommended 
to an excellent pension in Rome on the Piazza di 
Spagna. 

Though the enthusiasm of college days returned, 
yet we found that to do the Eternal City satisfac- 
torily we really needed a month or more. A dozen 
good books have been written on Italy, but we were 
armed with Baedeker's Central Italy and Rome, 
which, fortunately, had been issued the year before. 
Nothing better could be desired. It devotes 240 
out of 320 pages to Rome and vicinity. It is con- 
venient for the pocket, is comprehensive and trust- 
worthy, and its maps are not surpassed. But its 
red cover is a tell-tale to hotel runners, guides and 
beggars. French, as well as Italian, is spoken every- 
where. At once we secured the best of guides, and 
told him just what we most wished to see, and 
probably not a tenth of the sights in Rome, viz. : 
St. Peter's, the Lateran, S. Maria Maggiore, and a 
few only of the 300 churches ; the Vatican, Borgh- 
ese, Barberini, and other Palaces, the ruins of the 
Forum, the Colosseum, the Palace of the Caesars, 
the Baths of Caracalla, certain villas, monuments, 
and tombs. 

The wonder is that St. Peter's was not absolutely 
spoilt, for several architects, including Michael An- 
gelo, " were inspired ; " they made plans, and several 
changes from its beginning under Julius II. in 1506, 



TRAVELS, 121 

to Its completion under Pius VI., in 1780. On its 
site St. Peter was buried, and many Christians were 
martyred in Nero's time. Its true grandeur, like 
that of Niagara Falls, is not usually realized by a 
single visit. One is too apt to take as standards of 
measurements tombs, statues and angels within, 
all of which are of unusual proportions, but when 
one changes the standards to living, moving figures, 
then the immensity of the noble structure is better 
comprehended, and awe and amazement fill the 
soul. 

Protestants as well as Catholics take great inter- 
est in St. Peter's, for the expense (fifty millions or 
more) was so heavy, that Popes Julius and Leo X. 
resorted to the sale of indulgences to raise money, 
and this led to the Reformation. The coronation 
of the Popes is held in the Lateran, which takes 
ecclesiastical precedence of all other churches in 
Italy. One's interest rarely ever flags at sight of 
so miany Christian antiquities, sculptures, historic 
tombs, in this and other churches, most of which 
are resplendent with gems, precious marbles, lapis 
lazuli, agate and gilt. We were also much im- 
pressed with the continuity and power of the Cath- 
olic Church, as we stood in the imposing interior of 
St. Paul's Church, when we observed above the 
eighty granite columns of the nave and transept a 
long series of portrait-medallions of all the Popes 
in mosaic. 

For over five hundred years the Vatican has been 
the Papal residence. Its ten thousand and more 



122 TRAVELS. 

rooms, with its Museum, Sistine Chapel, Library, 
etc., afford much of instruction to all who have 
leisure and desire for knowledge. 

We eagerly descend from the Capitol on the 
south side to examine in the light of college teach- 
ing, or better, by actual observation, the ruins of the 
Forum, Colosseum, the Arches, the Pantheon, (Ra- 
phael's Tomb), the Baths, etc. One needs also to 
see the many treasures of art taken from the debris 
of the Caracalla Baths and now exhibited in the 
museums of Rome and Naples, to comprehend fully 
the size and elegance of the Baths which could 
accommodate 1600 bathers. The Romans evidently 
were not strangers to John Wesley's thought, 
" Cleanliness is next to Godliness." Modern Rome 
occupies the plain of each side of the Tiber and the 
slopes of seven hills. A few days in Rome sharpens 
the mind for months of study. Rome in 1870 
became a portion of United Italy under Victor 
Emmanuel. 

A night's ride brought us to Naples, or as the 
Italians, who work for us in Ohio, say, " Napoli ". 
A colony of several hundred Italians from Central 
Italy and near Naples have of late years come to 
Lake View, Cleveland, and they work on our roads, 
farms and vineyards. They are very clannish, cling 
to the Catholic church, and to gaudy colors for 
their garments. They beget many children, and to 
their credit save for homes most of the money 
earned. 

Much of poverty is seen in all the cities of Italy. 



TRAVELS. 123 

Laboring men get from twenty-five to forty cents 
per day. The wages in America are four times 
this amount, and the American Italians work hard, 
save money and are happy. 

Naples is chiefly interesting as the metropolis of 
a region beautiful in itself, and of much historical 
interest. We economized time enough by taking 
an early train, fourteen miles south, to visit the 
chief objects of interest at uncovered Pompeii. 
Before dawn we saw the molten red lava creeping 
slowly from the cone of Vesuvius down its slopes. 

From Rome to Pisa is over 200 miles, and many 
prefer to go by rail only to Civita Vecchia and 
thence take steamer, with fine sea views, to Leghorn, 
as the coast is flat and uninteresting ; thence eleven 
miles by rail takes one to Pisa, which is forty-nine 
miles west of Florence. 

The Cathedral, Leaning Tower, Baptistery and 
Campo Santo are just outside of Pisa and are very 
interesting. The great bronze lamp, that suggested 
the pendulum to Galileo, still does duty in the 
Cathedral. The tall Campanile leans about fourteen 
feet, and you fear that the ringing of its bells will 
give gravity another victory. The Baptistery is 
almost faultless, and its far-famed echo is unsur- 
passed. A vast corridor encloses the "" Holy 
Ground ", which is adorned with sculptures, paintings 
and monuments. For six centuries the ashes of 
Pisa's foremost citizens have here mixed with many 
shiploads of earth brought from Jerusalem. 

The journey of a hundred miles by rail to Genoa 



1 24 77?^ VELS, 

fs charming. Old towers are seen in several way- 
side towns, and on the left are the open sea, exquis- 
ite bays and coast effects. En route one longs to 
visit the studios and white marble quarries of Car- 
rara. 

Genoa, the Superb, is a famous fortified seaport 
city of Northern Italy. Crescent shaped and beau- 
tiful as seen from the Mediterranean; white houses, 
imposing churches, rich palaces and picturesque 
villas stand on ground gradually rising from the shore. 
Genoa, older than Rome, rival of Pisa and Venice, 
and mother of colonies, honors herself to-day in 
claiming Columbus as her child. Near the railway 
station stands a fine statue to his memory. 

I remember as we left Genoa for Milan, the 
beautiful frescoes that adorn the exteriors of 
several palaces. When the Southern States 
recover their wealth, perhaps our American homes 
and public buildings in the southern climate may 
likewise be decorated. It is less than a hundred 
miles north to Milan, capital of Lombardy, a great 
manufacturing city of 250,000 inhabitants. The 
cathedral is magnificent and is second only to St. 
Peter's at Rome. It is 500 feet long and half as 
wide, with a central spire, 350 feet high. In fact, it 
is the world's largest Gothic church. It would con- 
tain two cathedrals like that of Canterbury. Ger- 
many furnished the architect for this Cathedral of 
pointed style, and France gave 3,500,000 francs to 
aid in its completion. 

As viewed from the central spire, the exterior of 



TRAVELS. 125 

this marble cathedral appears bewildering. Small 
spires are countless. Three thousand statues and 
bas-reliefs fill niches every where, and yet there is 
room for 1500 more. The poet says : 

" 'Tis only in the land of fairy dreams 

Such marble temples rise, bright in the gleams 

Of golden sunshine. Truth here now repeats 

What fancy oft has pictured forth in sleep. 

And gives substantial form to airy flights. 

How bright ; how beautiful ! The turrets peep 

In snowy clouds, while statues crown their heights. 

Oft does the night these towers in moonshine steep, 

Stirring the soul to poetry's delights." 

To the north, east and south the snowy Alps and 
Apennines fill three-fourths of the horizon. In 
sight are the lofty peaks of Monte Rosa, the 
Simplon and St. Gothard, Magenta and other 
battlefields. Nestling among the hills and not far 
to the north are the lovely lakes of Maggiore, 
Lugano and Como. Due west on the sky is outlined 
Mt. Cenis, beneath which, via Turin, we hasten our 
return to London and Liverpool. On the Mersey 
River I took leave of Mrs. Bolton, and her face 
disappeared in the fog as the tender bore her with 
other passengers to the vS. S. Baltic, which sailed 
on Tuesday, November 26, for New York. 

Business delayed me in England for over two 
months, when I started for America, sailing on the 
5. 5. Adriatic, Tuesday, February 4, 1879, with 
good Captain J. W. Jennings. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Off Again. A Panacea for Mai de mer. A Judge Its Victim. 
The Vastness of London. The Museum, where Books are 
Written. Trafalgar Square. The Old Lady of Thread-needle, 
St. Wren's Masterpiece. Most Costly and Busy Quarter of 
London. England's Temple of Fame. How I Lost My Watch. 
The Lungs of London. Dead a Century. Washington in 
Tobacco Trade. Lakes Windermere and Grasmere. A White 
Feather in the Cap of Joseph Chamberlain. Dale, the Beecher 
of Birmingham. Cardinal Newman, and His " Lead, Kindly 
Light." Bradlaugh and His Opponent in Baskerville Hall. 
My Loyal Scotch Friend. 

My second journey to Europe began July 26, 
1879, when I sailed from New York on the then 
fastest steamer afloat, the Britannic, of the White 
Star line. Souls aboard, all told, numbered 427. 

The year before I had suffered much from sea- 
sickness, but believing that I might take several 
ocean trips, I resolved, if possible, to find a cure for 
the much dreaded mal de mer. The final remedy 
was very simple, viz. : Exercise on ship-board about 
as one is accustomed to do on shore. A tape 
line told me that sixteen times around the promen- 
ade deck of the Britannic was a mile. So I took 
one mile of exercise before and after each meal, or 
six miles daily, a total of about fifty-four miles for 



TRAVELS. 127 

the voyage. Most passengers walk some each day, 
if able and the weather is fair, but flee to their 
staterooms and surrender to Old Neptune, if the 
" stiff breezes " are entered on the log book. My 

good friend, Judge B , was delighted with the 

salt air and the smooth waters of the Atlantic. 
On the first day out, as we walked, he said, " It has 
been the mistake of my life, this permitting busi- 
ness to absorb all my time, and so not see more of 
the world." Looking out on the soft, blue waters, 
he again said, '' I shall now visit Europe every 
year." But the breezes came, the odors of soup 
made him deathly sick, and he became a victim of 
mal de mer and was confined for days in his berth. 
Another friend of mine, a merchant from Hartford, 
sent for me and begged that I would have the 
Purser order all those who passed his room to wear 
slippers, as steps in the passage-way, and the gongs 
for meals made him weary of life. 

It was some days before the Judge would permit 
the steward to help him on deck. His was a dole- 
ful story of " the pounding of the ship on the bot- 
tom of the sea," and he added that if he " could 
not return by land he would sell all his American 
possessions and live and die in Europe." 

The Britannic homeward bound averaged 333 
miles per day, and landed her passengers at Liver- 
pool on August 3 or 4. 

My trips here and there in England were made 
largely in search of orders and new ideas connected 
with our business, but it afforded me some leisure 



128 TRAVELS. 

and great opportunities to study Shakespeare's " Isle 
set in a sea of silver." 

You feel like rebuking yourself that you under- 
stand so little of English history. A college friend, 
when asked on his return from England, how he liked 
the British Museum, replied '' that he did not know 
about it." What a loss ! For the British Museum 
contains a vast collection of rare and priceless treas- 
ures and curiosities from all ages and parts of the 
world. Most interesting is the Rosetta stone with 
three inscriptions, found on the Nile. By means of 
this stone. Young deciphered the hieroglyphics or 
picture language of the ancient Egyptians. Here 
are many galleries devoted to Egyptian antiquities 
and to Assyrian, Grecian and Roman sculpture. Its 
great reading room is beneath a glass dome, one 
hundred and forty feet in diameter — larger than St. 
Paul's or St. Peter's. Here is mental food for the 
world. On shelves, in sight, are 80,000 encyclo- 
pedias and books most frequently consulted. On 
160 miles of shelves, near at hand, are 1,350,000 
volumes. The center is occupied by the Superin- 
tendent and his assistants. Beneath the counters 
are the catalogues in over 500 volumes. Little iron 
cars bring in the books desired. Any person over 
twenty-one years of age, introduced by a house- 
holder of London, can here have a desk, chair, pens, 
ink and blotting paper free. I know of no place in 
the world where so much is furnished for so little. 

The cab takes us to Trafalgar Square, one of the 
many fine places in London. From this Square 



TRA VELS. 1 29 

start the Strand, Pall Mall with its many club 
houses, and White-Hall that leads to the Parliament 
Buildings. The Corinthian Column, 140 feet high, 
is surmounted by a statue of Lord Nelson. At 
the base are Landseer's celebrated lions. Fronting 
the Square is the National Picture Gallery, in 
Grecian style. Its score or more of rooms contain 
excellent paintings by Raphael, Titian, Correggio, 
Landseer, Reynolds, Turner, and others. 

We took a most enjoyable ride past St. James's 
Palace, occupied as chief royal residence from 
William III. to George IV. We witnessed the 
parade of the Foot Guards, thence along St. James's 
Park to Buckingham Palace, occupied in 1837 by 
Queen Victoria as a town residence, and where 
the magic ceremonies of the Queen's Drawing 
Room occur, usually in May. After an English 
young lady has been presented to Her Majesty, 
she can then enter upon a round of balls, concerts, 
and other gaieties. 

Passing on the right of Green Park of seventy 
acres. Constitutional Hill leads us to Hyde Park, 
through which we drove, enjoying magnificent 
groups of trees, and broad expanses of grass, charac- 
teristic of all English parks, well kept flower beds, 
and especially the brilliant scenes on Rotten Row, 
near the Serpentine, where the fashionable world in 
fine weather rides, drives, or walks. 

In the Drive are seen handsome equipages which 
contain beautiful and exquisitely dressed women 
from all parts of the world. Before admiring 



1 30 TRA VELS. 

crowds ladies and gentlemen ride their glossy and 
spirited steeds. 

To the west of Hyde Park lie Kensington 
Gardens with fine avenues and majestic old trees, 
that lead to the Palace, where May 24, 18 19, Queen 
Victoria was born. Further west is Holland House 
of historic interest, and near by is the South Ken- 
sington Museum, an outgrowth in part of the 
Industrial Exhibition of 185 1. The object of this 
Institution is the promotion of art through the 
training of competent teachers, the exhibition of 
objects of art, the establishment of art libraries, and 
the foundation of schools of art, the results of 
which are seen in the recent great progress made in 
British manufactures. 

To the south of Kensington Gardens stands the 
famous Albert Memorial. On a broad platform 
approached by many granite steps rises, 175 feet 
in height, a beautiful Gothic spire, surmounted by 
angels and a gilt cross. A canopy beneath, sup- 
ported by clustering granite columns, shields a 
bronze gilt statue of Prince Albert, late husband of 
Queen Victoria. The whole is embellished with 
gems, colored stones, mosaics, and gilding. One 
hundred and sixty-nine portrait marble figures, of 
heroic size form a girdle about the base. These 
represent those who in all ages have excelled in 
poetry, music, sculpture, painting, and architecture. 
Other groups of marble represent Agriculture, Com- 
merce, Engineering and Manufacture. On a gold 
ground, in letters of blue, is the inscription " Queen 



TRAVELS. 131 

Victoria and her people, to the memory of Albert 
Prince Consort as a tribute of their gratitude for a 
life devoted to the public good." 

The next day we made a delightful excursion on 
the penny boats, or swift little steamers that ply on 
the Thames, under the bridges down to the vast 
docks and ware-houses, that extend for several 
miles below London Bridge. These docks occupy 
many hundreds of acres, and cost more than $100, 
000,000. This constitutes the Port of London, the 
center from which the enormous commerce of Eng- 
land radiates over the globe. Nothing conveys so 
good an idea of the great activity, and wealth of 
London as a visit to her docks, which are occupied 
by thousands of ships of all nations, that bring 
home to London foreign and colonial products of 
every description. 

The penny boats continue the journey to the 
Royal Arsenal at Woolwich on the Thames. The 
Arsenal covers one hundred acres, and affords work 
for 10,000 mechanics, who are busily engaged mak- 
ing cannon of wrought iron bars, projectiles, cart- 
ridges and other materials of war. For a mile along 
the Thames extend magazines, which contain enor- 
mous stores of war. Of much interest also is the 
trip up the Thames, either by boat or rail to Hamp- 
ton Court, which by railway is three-fourths of an 
hour's ride from Waterloo Station. 

You leave London on a viaduct above the streets, 
and pass through busy Clapham Junction, near 
Epsom Downs, where the great races, ' The Derby ', 



132 TRAVELS. 

and the * Oaks * take place annually, and finally 
arrive at Hampton Court. Here the celebrated 
Cardinal Wolsey built in red brick with battle- 
mented walls, his palace, which finally he presented 
to Henry VHI. It was occupied as a Royal resi- 
dence till the time of George H. The gardens 
are embellished with tasteful flower beds and shady 
avenues, and the maze, or labyrinth affords amuse- 
ment to the uninitiated. 

Bushy Park is a Royal domain of ii,ooo acres, 
where may be seen the white thorn in beautiful 
blossom. The chief glory of this park, in early 
summer, ^re the blossoms of the horse-chestnut, 
which are here unequalled in England. 

We stopped at Richmond, a park of 2255 acres 
and a favorite summer resort. The omnibus took 
us to Kew, where are situated fine botanic gardens, 
with ferns, orchids, cacti, lilies, and immense palms 
in large tropical houses. We also paid a visit to 
the famous Crystal Palace on Sydenham Hill 
seven and a half miles south of London. The 
ticket, including return and admission, is only 
fifty cents. This vast structure of iron and glass is 
the building used in the first International Exhibi- 
tion of 185 1. The 200 acres and buildings cost 
$7,500,000, and the expense of this continuous ex- 
position is $1000 per day. A gigantic toy for the 
English people to play with, said Hawthorne. 

The grounds are finely terraced, and everywhere 
most tastefully embellished 'with broad walks, 
shrubberies, flower beds, balustrades, statues, cas- 



TRAVELS. 133 

cades and fountains. The central transept is a 
third of a mile in length, and the vaulting of glass 
overhead is fairylike and flooded with sunshine, 
The enormous roof covers halls used for plays and 
pantomimes. The Handel Orchestra has seats for 
4,000 singers, and the audiences sometimes number 
50,000. Roomy corridors contain a series of courts, 
illustrative of architecture of all ages, and objects 
of rare interest from round the globe. On the 
grounds are aviaries, archery grounds, bear pits and 
curiosities enough to satisfy the most exacting. 

The vastness of London reveals itself best, per- 
haps, by riding down the Thames, or from Green- 
wich to Chelsea ; then by a ride north, south, east 
and west on the top of an omnibus, in the box-seat 
with the driver, if possible. A ride takes one 
through the busy Strand, Fleet Street and Cheap- 
side ; and then to the Bank of England, one of the 
six great centers of life and architecture in the 
metropolis. The Bank of England is a one-story 
triangular building with interior windows only, and 
covering four acres. More rooms are below than 
above ground. This is a private corporation, 
founded in 1691 by William Patterson, a Scotch- 
man. Capital $70,000,000. One hundred millions 
of specie are often on deposit, and as much more 
of crisp bank notes are in circulation ; the average 
amount daily negotiated is about $10,000,000. 
The Bank receives for managing the National debt 
$1,000,000 annually. One thousand clerks are em- 
ployed. This is the only London bank that may 



1 34 TRA VELS. 

issue paper money. The bank is guarded at night 
by one hundred red-coated soldiers. Real estate in 
this vicinity has sold as high as $4,500,000 per acre. 
The Bank is lovingly called by the Londoner " The 
Old Lady of Thread-needle Street," and is revered 
next to his Queen. 

Near by is the Royal Exchange. Its busy hour 
" on Change " is from 3 to 4 p. m. Across from 
this busy mart is the official residence of the Lord 
Mayor, the Mansion House, and in King Street is 
quaint Guildhall where the Lord Mayor's dinner is 
given and state policy often made known. 

St. Paul's Cathedral, the masterpiece of Sir Chris- 
topher Wren, is surpassed only by St. Peter's, and 
the Cathedral of Milan. It was built two centuries 
ago in the heart of London. Streets and buildings, 
however, so hem it in that its colossal proportions 
cannot be fully realized. Its majestic dome, 404 
feet high to the top of the gilt cross, is considered 
very fine. The gilt ball supporting the cross will 
hold ten persons. Beneath the dome are buried 
Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington, both 
winning decisive victories over Napoleon ; here also 
are the tombs of Sir Joshua Reynolds, West 
Turner, and Howard the philantropist. Above the 
north door is an inscription in memory of Wren the 
architect, " Lector Si Monumentum Requiris Cir- 
cumspice." '* If you seek his monument, look 
about you." 

Sidney Smith once said to his vestry, in reference 
to a block pavement proposed to be built around 



TRAVELS. 135 

St. Paul's, " All you have to do, gentlemen, is to 
put your heads together, and the thing is done." 

It often affords pleasure to go about London 
without a plan or guide-book, in an aimless and 
vagabond way ; or to follow Hawthorne's frequent 
habit of plunging headlong into London, and so 
lose and find yourself unexpectedly among things 
you have read about. 

A most enjoyable walk is out on Westminster 
Bridge, where is obtained a fine view of the Houses 
of Parliament, the Cradle of Constitutional Liberty. 
A hundred plans were offered at the time it was 
built. Sir Charles Barry's being accepted, and later 
he was knighted. The architecture of these build- 
ings is of the richest Gothic, and so much of British 
history has bean carved into the stones, that, if the 
printed histories of Great Britain were destroyed, 
most of the British story could be read in the stat- 
ues and carvings of the exterior and interior of the 
Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. 

How grand is Victoria Tower ! It is 70 feet 
square and 340 feet in height. The Houses of 
Parliament cover eight acres on the left bank of the 
Thames. Beyond the huge Clock Tower is historic 
Westminster Hall, a vestibule of the Houses of 
Parliament. Beneath its ceiling of wonderfully 
carved oak, Charles I. and others were tried and 
condemned to death, and here Cromwell in royal 
purple was saluted as Protector. Later even Crom- 
well's head was exposed for thirty years on a pinna- 
cle above, till a high wind carried the bleached skull 



1 36 TRA VELS. 

to the ground. Surely '' 111 blows the wind that 
profits nobody." 

Within the Houses of Parliament are eleven 
courts, one hundred staircases, and eleven hundred 
apartments, requiring an expenditure of about 
$15,000,000. Passing through Westminster Hall, 
and up a broad flight of stone steps, we enter St. 
Stephen's Hall, adorned with marble statues of cele- 
brated English statesmen, Hampden, Walpole, Pitt, 
Fox and others. 

Standing in the Central Hall, one can see the 
Speaker of the House of Commons, who, as he 
occupies his seat, can behold Queen Victoria sitting 
on the British throne beneath a richly carved and 
gilded canopy in the House of Peers, when she 
opens or closes Parliament. 

The House of Peers is larger than the American 
House of Representatives, and it is one of the 
most sumptuously finished and decorated halls in 
the world. Its ceiling is a mass of carving and 
gold, its walls are beautiful, and the light is ad- 
mitted through a dozen richly stained glass win- 
dows. 

The red leather benches are occupied by over 
four hundred Spiritual and Temporal Peers; most 
of whom, strange to relate, wear their hats when in 
attendance. The Lord Chancellor in his three- 
cornered hat and powdered wig, wearing a crimson 
and ermine mantle, occupies the large red cushioned 
ottoman, the famous woolsack, which is placed 
immediately in front of the throne of Great Britain. 



TRAVELS. 137 

The Tower of London is the most ancient and 
noted group of buildings in London. It covers 
fifteen acres on the left bank of the Thames, and 
originated eight centuries ago with William the 
Conqueror. The Tower has been fortress, palace, 
and prison. Here royalty dwelt till Queen Eliza- 
beth's time. Here six Kings and Queens, and 
others of royal blood met their death. Half of the 
Tower's terrible history was over before a stone was 
laid in the Escurial, the Vatican, or the Kremlin. 
The many sad scenes within its walls have been 
immortalized by historians and poets. 

Within the fortress in Wakefield Tower, a strong 
iron cage protects under glass invaluable scepters 
and crowns, which are ablaze with diamonds and 
brilliant stones. Here the famous Koh-i-Noor, 
Mountain of Light, is exhibited. Queen Victoria's 
crown contains pearls, sapphires, rubies, 300 emer- 
alds and 2783 diamonds. 

At the foot of a winding staircase were found the 
bones of the Princes, Edward and Richard, two 
lovely children of twelve and eight. On the death 
of their father, King Edward IV., their regent 
uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, swore allegiance to 
the elder prince as Edward V., and then threw the 
helpless princes into the Bloody Tower. Tradition 
has it that the Duke hired some assassins to smother 
Edward and Richard in their beds. When their 
bones were found, Charles II. had them tenderly put 
in a marble urn, and placed in Westminster Abbey, 
which spot to-day is called " Innocents Corner." 



138 TRAVELS. 

Westminster Abbey is the only National place 
of sepulture in the world, — the only spot whose 
monuments epitomize a people's history. It is a 
magnificent Gothic church. Westminster Abbey is 
also called the '' English Temple of Fame," and 
here the aristocracy of brains is enshrined. For 
many centuries the highest ambition of an Eng- 
lishman has been to merit a burial within these 
walls. Nowhere, more than in this grand mauso- 
leum, is the soul so thrilled as one beholds the 
tombs of royal personages, renowned warriors and 
statesmen, authors, poets, and celebrated men. 

The nave of Westminster is 573 feet long, and 
the transept is 200 feet. Clustered marble columns 
support a lofty roof over nave and transept. The 
harmony of proportion, the richness of stained glass, 
and exquisite music, fill the soul with delight. 
Marble statues crowd every aisle. In the south 
transept is the poets' corner, a shrine sacred to all 
nationalities. Here busts and statues recall the 
Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, The Fairie Queene of 
Spenser, beloved Gray, rare Ben Jonson, melodi- 
ous Handel, and "■ myriad minded " Shakespeare. 
A bust of Longfellow, recently unveiled, makes the 
** Poet's Corner " doubly dear to every American. 
The burial of Gladstone here is a fitting testimonial 
to England's wonderful financier, who opposed war, 
was an eloquent speaker, a far-seeing diplomat and 
a Christian gentleman to the end. 

The pulpit is built of delicately carved, variegated 
marbles, and tasteful mosaics. Figures of St. Paul, 



TRAVELS. 139 

St. Peter and the Four Evangelists face the audi- 
ence, which is always cosmopolitan. The effect of 
scripture, prayer and song is intensified by the fact 
that about you are gathered the illustrious dead of 
centuries. 

A bronze tablet in the floor of the Abbey arrests 
your attention. Underneath it reposes Livingstone, 
one of the world's most devoted missionaries in the 
once Dark Continent. 

The Coronation Chair was built by order of 
Edward I. to enclose the Black Stone, which he 
brought from Scotland, and on which the Scottish 
monarchs had been crowned since the time of 
Kenneth II. in 513. All English sovereigns have 
been crowned in this chair since his time. At the 
coronation, the chair, covered with gold brocade, is 
placed in the Choir of the Abbey. Thirteen Kings 
and fourteen Queens are buried in the nine royal 
chapels. Near by are the tombs of Mary Queen of 
Scots, and Elizabeth ; both are large marble figures 
under a canopy. Within the Abbey walls Planta- 
genets, Lancastrian and Yorkist, Tudors, Stuarts, 
Catholic and Puritan lie side by side in a league 
of peace. 

The tomb of Henry VII. is in the Henry VII. 
Chapel, one of the richest examples of florid per- 
pendicular gothic architecture in the Kingdom. 
The stone roof, with its fan tracery and heavy 
pendants, is exquisite. 

In the highly wrought enclosure of brass are 
effigies in robes of state, of Henry VII. and Eliza- 



I40 TRAVELS. 

beth his Queen, a red dragon supporting their 
heads. Within black marble coffins repose in peace 
the ashes of the rival Houses of York and Lan- 
caster. Shakespeare makes these royal Houses 
challenge each other. The Yorkist says : *' Let 
him that is a true born gentleman from off this 
brier pluck a white rose with me." 

The rival Lancastrian responds : *' Let him that 
is no coward, nor no flatterer, pluck a red rose from 
off this thorn with me." . 

I recall my experience with Scotland Yard, head- 
quarters of the London police. It was near the 
close of a sunny day, and I had been walking 
through the beautiful gardens of the Victoria Em- 
bankment when I passed up through Savoy Street 
to the Strand in search of a cup of tea. A throng 
of excited people blocked the way. Cabby was in 
conflict with his passenger, whose face was soiled 
with blood, and humanity was In sympathy. I, 
too, became interested, till suddenly I felt my 
watch chain dangling against my vest, and it flashed 
through my brain that I was robbed. Sure enough, 
a valuable gold watch, a gift, had been stolen in 
broad daylight, on a leading thoroughfare In Lon- 
don. So I hastened to Scotland Yard and told my 
story to the officer of the day. He promised to 
include a description of my watch in the police cir- 
cular sent regularly to the 3,000 pawnbrokers of 
London. The polite official said that the incident 
I described was of frequent occurrence In London, 
and it baffled the police. He added that probably 



TRAVELS, 141 

cabby and the passengers were partners, and that 
their associates in the crowd relieved a dozen or 
more sympathetic tourists and passers-by of their 
valuables. Then the official told me that the day 
thieves of London were a clever set, and that their 
ingenuity was surprising. For example, he said, 
" A very thin old man will lean against a lamp post 
on a thoroughfare, and suddenly he falls, seemingly 
in a faint, and the crowd that gathers around to 
render assistance to the old man affords another 
rare opportunity for the light-fingered gentry. 
These methods are only two of many practised in 
London." Mrs. Bolton found her lost watch in Ire- 
land. I was less fortunate. Twenty-five cent 
knives and dollar umbrellas are better to lose than 
more costly ones. 

The lungs or breathing places of London are 
many. St. James, Green and Hyde Parks are 
three links only in a chain of beautiful pleasure 
grounds throughout the metropolis. A ride or 
walk through them for a half day is most enjoyable. 
Between 5 and 7 p. m., if the weather is fair, the 
roads of Hyde Park are thronged with carriages 
and the paths with a fun-loving crowd. 

Busy British go up to, and down from, Lon- 
don, and respect the laws of their kingdom. I 
recall one day seeing in Oxford a crowd of people 
waiting in front of a fine government building. A 
showily dressed English official appeared in the door 
as a carriage drawn by black horses pulled up. All 
heads were uncovered as the man left the carriage. 



142 TRAVELS. 

I inquired who the two persons were. " The gen- 
tleman on the steps is the High Sheriff of the 
County of Oxford, and the one leaving the carriage 
is the Judge who comes down from London to hold 
Court." 

Great value is also placed upon profitable busi- 
ness concerns, for often it takes many years to 
bring a mercantile or manufacturing establishment 
to a point where the profits for the future are 
reasonably guaranteed. Then the business goes 
from father to son, or successors, and is carefully 
protected. I remember visiting Bristol, and called 
upon the largest chocolate and cocoa company in 
England. Entering tlie ofifice of J. S. Fry & Sons, 
I inquired for Mr. Fry. ''Which Mr. Fry ?" was 
asked. " Mr. J. S. Fry, please." The good nature 
of the ofifice confused me. Then a clerk replied, 
*' Impossible, sir, for Mr. J. S. Fry has been dead 
for a century ; " but the chocolate and cocoa busi- 
ness went on all the same. 

I called upon another firm, one that for several 
generations had been engaged in the tobacco trade. 
I was shown an invoice of tobacco made out and 
signed in the handwriting of George Washington 
of Virginia. In the back office of this same firm I 
was also shown many good-sized paintings of very 
old men hanging on the walls, and was told that 
these were pictures of their laboring men who had 
worked for the firm for fifty years. Every employee 
of fifty years' service was thus honored. 

From London we took the Great Western Rail- 



TRAVELS. 143 

way at Paddington Station for Windsor, stopping 
at Slough, where the Herschels made their impor- 
tant discoveries, and thence drove two miles to 
Stoke Pogis where beneath the ivy-mantled church 
tower lies buried the poet Gray, whose elegy has 
given this spot an immortal charm. 

The famous English school, Eton College, built 
in two large quadrangles, is near Windsor, and here 
the aristocracy of England in part get their early 
education. Only a few, however, of the thousand 
scholars wear black gowns. 

Queen Victoria has four Royal residences ; Buck- 
ingham Palace is her London home, Osborne House 
on the Isle of Wight is her winter home, and Bal- 
moral in Scotland is occupied by her in the sum- 
mer. Windsor Castle, built with its many towers, 
turrets and gateways on a hill, is the most magnifi- 
cent royal residence in the world. 

William the Confessor gave this castle away as a 
fee for the full remission of his sins. It was soon 
possessed by William the Conqueror. In Windsor 
Castle the relentless Barons forced King John to 
sign the Magna Charta. King John of France, and 
King David of Scotland were imprisoned in the 
big Round Tower. Each succeeding British Mon- 
arch has made more or less additions to this majes- 
tic residence. 

From the battlemented Round Tower unsur- 
passed views are obtained of the vast Royal park 
filled with ancient oaks that give shelter to thou- 
sands of tame deer, of the Thames that waters 



144 TRAVELS. 

three sides of the well kept grounds, and of im- 
mense forests and pretty villages in a dozen adja- 
cent counties. 

The North Terrace is a third of a mile in length, 
above which rise the superb State Apartments, and 
historic rooms. Along the East Terrace stand four 
imposing towers, which guard the Queen's private 
apartments, and from which broad stone steps lead 
into sunken gardens, embellished with shrubbery, 
flowers, fountains, and statuary, the latter wrought 
in marble and bronze. 

The Queen's private rooms are cheerful and 
inviting. In Windsor Castle General Grant and 
family were cordially entertained. Here also came 
Emperor Nicholas of Russia, Louis Philippe, and 
Napoleon III. of France bringing costly presents to 
her Majesty. 

The Royal collection of gold and silver plate is 
guarded by strong vaults. It includes a gold service 
for 140 persons, which was ordered by George IV. 

Visitors when shown through the Castle, see the 
crimson, the white, and the green rooms, the Roy- 
al Library containing 50,000 volumes, the Audience 
Room, the State Drawing-room, the grand Ban- 
queting Hall, and the Throne Room, all finished 
and furnished with rich rugs on the floors, carved 
and gilt furniture upholstered with costly .silks, fine 
pictures by the old masters on the walls, rare vases 
and other works of art, pottery, marble and cun- 
ningly wrought bronze. 

Beneath the wonderfully chiseled stone roof of 



TRAVELS. 145 

St. George's Chapel, the Prince and Princess of 
Wales were married. In this Chapel are installed 
the Knights of the Garter. Their motto is Honi 
soit qui mal y pense. Here also lie buried Henry 
Vni., Lady Jane Grey, George HI., George IV., 
and William IV. 

The Albert Chapel was embellished, by command 
of Victoria, with colored marbles, mosaic figures 
and richly stained glass, all of great elegance, in 
memory of the much loved Albert, the Prince Con- 
sort. When Albert breathed his last, the Queen 
sorrowfully said, " There is no one living now to call 
me Victoria." Both the Duchess of Kent the 
Queen's mother, and Albert her husband, rest near 
each other in magnificent tombs, surrounded by 
shrubbery and trees of large growth. 

Queen Victoria was crowned June 21, 1837, and 
in 1876 she was made Empress of India. For 
over sixty years this noble woman has honored the 
British throne, and her Jubilee, celebrated June 21 
1887, told how the world honored her. Millions of 
loyal citizens lined the streets in London as Her 
Majesty proceeded to Westminster Abbey, drawn 
in a magnificent chariot by eight beautiful horses, 
and surrounded by a mounted escort of her sons and 
grand-sons in brilliant uniforms. Many bells were 
ringing, and guns were firing, as she entered the his- 
toric Abbey, and ten thousand persons, England's 
aristocracy, rose and sang, Te Deum Laudamus, set 
to music composed by Prince Albert. At the close of 
the service the Royal Family kissed her hand, and 



14^ TRA VELS. 

she cordially embraced her many children. The 
reign of few rulers if any, has been so long, so pros- 
perous and so remarkable. 

Queen Victoria has ruled over one-third of 
the land of the globe, and one-fourth of its popula- 
tion. Under her benign influence, slavery has been 
abolished, the franchise greatly extended, com- 
merce and manufacture increased to an amazing 
extent, and science and invention developed as 
never before in the world's history. 

During all of Great Britain's late wonderful pros- 
perity Queen Victoria has constantly affirmed that 
commerce and trade alone will not make a nation 
great and happy ; that England has become happy 
because of a knowledge of the true God, and of 
Jesus Christ. The late Cardinal Manning at the 
time of the Queen's Jubilee paid her a deserving 
compliment in saying, " that Queen Victoria's home 
and her court are bright and spotless examples for 
all who reign, and a pattern for all people." 

Senator George F. Hoar graciously said, " Queen 
Victoria is a type of gentlest womanhood, model of 
mother, wife and friend, who came at eighteen to 
the throne of George IV. and William ; the Royal 
nature that disdained to strike at her kingdom's 
rival in the hour of our sorest need ; the heart, 
which even in the bosom of a Queen beat with 
sympathy for the cause of constitutional liberty ; 
who laid on the coffin of our dead Garfield the 
wreath fragrant with a sister's sympathy ; to her 
our Republican manhood does not disdain to bend. 



TRAVELS, 147 

" The eagle, lord of land and sea, 
Will stoop to pay her fealty." 

It is less than nine miles from Liverpool to the 
English Lake District. Windermere Village is a 
mile or two back from the Lake and on elevated 
ground. Peeping out of the woods on every hand 
are pretty cottages and mansions. Orrest Head 
commands an extended view of Windermere Lake, 
with its wooded islands, pretty bays, and undulat- 
ing hills. Li the distance are seen many villages 
and wild peaks. Few spots in England have richer 
and more varied scenery. From Bowness, a lake 
port near by, steam yachts and pleasure boats take 
you down the lake to Newby Bridge. Its Swan 
Inn was praised by Hawthorne. Tourists walk 
nine miles, or sail to Ambleside, another favorite 
center of excursionists. One finds in the English 
Lake District a labyrinth of delightful trips. Writ- 
ers pay pilgrimages to Dr. Arnold's lovely cottage, 
and to Rydal Mount, the home of Wordsworth. 
Along the roadside are the daisies he liked so 
much. The poet, his sister and his daughter ancj 
Hartley Coleridge are buried at Grasmere at the 
head of Grasmere Lake. This round lake dupli- 
cates in its smooth waters the trees and shrubbery 
along its banks and up the steep sides of the 
craggy Loughrigg Fell. It mirrors perfectly Gras- 
mere's single green isle with black firs and gray 
barn, and the pretty cattle that graze in the green 
meadows along its shores. 



148 TRAVELS. 

I was so delighted with this beautiful spot, with 
the tall, sweet grass and field flowers, that I begged 
to aid the farmers in the hay field, and with coat off 
I worked, talked, and part of the time slept on new- 
mown hay till the workmen quit, and the sun had 
almost set over a wooded peak. No wonder that 
Scott, Wordsworth and Southey tramped these 
regions in sweet fellowship. De Quincey, too, lived 
near Grasmere Lake. This whole country, tumbled 
roughly together, abounds in scores of lovely vales 
and zigzag lakes, Ullswater, Derwent water, Conis- 
ton water, etc. The people of England, Scotland 
and Ireland are justly proud of the respective merits 
of their own Lake Districts. 

For some weeks I was busy in Central England 
and came to know fairly well the city of Birming- 
ham and her busy people. The Cadburys and 
Steers were very kind to us. The Secretary of the 
Nettlefolds sent me a ticket to the aristocratic Tri- 
ennial Musical Festival held at Birmingham. The 
Nettlefolds, too, dined us at their elegant homes, 
and gave me a letter to their famous cousin, the 
Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, who was then 
Secretary of the Board of Trade in Gladstone's 
cabinet. During an evening spent with him in 
London, at his request, I said, " Mr. Chamberlain, 
already you have many feathers in your cap, but I 
think I can add a small one." ** Tell me how," 
he said earnestly. I replied, *' Mr. Chamberlain, it 
is a shame that it costs $1,000 at least to obtain a 
British patent, while in the United States it costs 



TRAVELS. 149 

less than $100. (I had just completed papers for 
an English patent.) And poor men in your country 
who have inventive brains and no money, lose their 
rights to patents. Why not copy the Patent Laws 
of the United States?" "Capital!" he answered. 
*' Can you send me all needed information on the 
subject ? " '' Yes," I replied. And on my re- 
turn to America I went to the Patent Ofifice in 
Washington and had forwarded to him all the help- 
ful papers possible. Later he urged and succeeded 
in amending the British Laws, so that to-day the 
expenses are not much, if any, above those in our 
country. 

In Birmingham I often went to hear Rev. Robert 
William Dale, the Beecher of Great Britain. Since 
1859, t^^l his death in 1895, he was the pastor at 
Carr's Lane of a splendid Congregational Church. 
He was a clear and forcible preacher, and every- 
body in his large audiences seemed to respond 
earnestly in the readings, and all sang the good old 
orthodox hymns. We dined at his cultured home, 
and on retiring to his superb library he smoked a 
big pipe and talked well. He objected to the 
*' Rev. " attached to his name. He wrote much 
and was an earnest and practical Liberal in politics. 

On May 12, 1879, John Henry Newman was 
made Cardinal, and officiated at the Cathedral in 
Birmingham. I remember that red carpet was laid 
for his feet from the carriage to the altar. I recall 
an oldish man, with red cap, slowly walking up the 
aisle, and all the people rose and bowed low as the 



150 TRAVELS. 

Cardinal entered the pulpit. His voice was low 
and sweet, and every word came as from a father to 
his children. England was alarmed that so clever a 
Protestant should leave the Anglican Church, and 
become a Roman Catholic prelate. His ''Tracts of 
the Times " were read far and wide. These may 
be forgotten, but not his sweet hymn sung by all 
people, " Lead, Kindly Light," which was written 
during a Mediterranean voyage, 1832-1833. 

My English landlord, Mr. Whitworth, who took 
me to hear the great Catholic Cardinal, said to me, 
" Now you have listened to our famous Protestant 
and Catholic preachers ; will you go with me next 
Sunday to Baskerville Hall to hear my preacher, 
Mr. Charles Bradlaugh?" "Yes," I answered. 
" When we go," he added, " I want you to put in 
writing one or more questions for Mr. Bradlaugh 
to answer, as he desires this of the people." " All 
right," I answered. 

Mr. Bradlaugh was a radical politician and a 
strong advocate of secularism. From 1880 to 1886 
he was elected several times to Parliament from 
Northampton, but on atheistic grounds he refused 
to take the Parliamentary oath, and so was not 
allowed to sit on afifirmation. Finally, however, he 
took the oath and was admitted. 

He lectured all over Great Britain, and prided 
himself on his ability to confuse and defeat his 
opponent, or a questioner, especially on religious 
matters. 

I consulted with a Scotch Covenanter, stopping 



77?^ VELS. 1 5 I 

at the same hotel, about Bradlaugh and our three 
questions. Finally we decided to fortify ourselves 
with a single question. We went to the Hall, 
which was crowded. The service began without 
Bible or hymns. Mr. Bradlaugh was a tall and 
powerfully built man. He talked vigorously for an 
hour or more, giving his reasons for atheistic beliefs. 
At the close he called for oral and written questions. 
A slender youth rose and tremblingly asked " Does 
Mr. Bradlaugh believe the Bible ? " '* What part 
of the Bible ? " he asked. '* Limit your question to 
some definite book, or chapter, or verse." The boy 
replied, ''How about the Book of Genesis?" 
Then Bradlaugh told the boy that the first chapter 
states that God created man, and the second chap- 
ter says that " there was no rain upon the earth, 
and there was not a man to till the ground." 
" Which chapter tells the truth ? " Of course the 
boy was confused ; Bradlaugh with loud voice 
commanded the boy to answer, but he could not. 
Next he made a show of reading the written ques- 
tions. He fumbled a certain piece of paper and 
laid it down with the sarcastic remark, " Evidently 
the man who wrote that question does not know 
the English language." This for me was bluff 
enough from a big Englishman. I whispered to 
the Scotchman, " Stand by me now and we will 
have some fun." Mounting my chair, I said, " Mr. 
Chairman, (Whitworth, my landlord), I need not 
tell your people that I am from America. Shall I 
have fair play in this Hall?" Everybody shouted, 



152 TRAVELS. 

"Hear! Hear!" for Englishmen pride themselves 
on their love of fair play. Then I added, '' Why 
does Mr. Bradlaugh ask for questions and push 
them aside with a sneer ? This last paper he failed 
to read is my question, and perhaps I too have 
thumbed the Greek and Latin Lexicons. Please 
let me repeat the question." And I gave it as fol- 
lows : " Has not the Bible for centuries given the 
best account of man as defective? If not, please 
state the book that has?" Now came Mr. Brad- 
laugh's chance. The Scotchman in the hotel 
had told me that his strongest line of attack was to 
catechise his opponent. So at once he asked me, 
*' What do you mean by the word * defective ' ? " 
Immediately I answered, ** Mr. Bradlaugh, select 
your own definition of the word; go ahead and 
give an answer." Had I used the word *' sinner", 
he might have asked me what I meant by "sinner" 
and soon put me in deep theological waters. He 
talked loud and long, but he neither answered the 
question nor satisfied the much excited audience. 
Whereupon I again mounted my chair, and said, 
" Everybody is witness to the rude treatment given 
the slender and pale lad. The Saviour would have 
gently led the inquiring boy into the light, but not 
so with Mr. Bradlaugh. He demanded emphati- 
cally of the innocent lad a Yes or No." The audi- 
ence for a time drowned my voice with " Hear ! 
Hear!" I now imitated Bradlaugh's tone of voice 
used with the boy ; " Come, Mr. Bradlaugh, 
the question is still unanswered, and I demand 






WORDSWORTH'S HOME AT RYDAL MOUNT. 




GRASMERE CHURCH, THE SITE OF WORDSWORTH'S GRAVE. 



TRAVELS. 153 

emphatically a Yes, or No." He got angry, using 
both his tongue and arms, windmill style, and said, 
'*No." Then I said : ''State the book which has, 
for our question is still unanswered." Plad he 
answered " Shakespeare," I was forearmed with a 
book, found in an old London bookstall, which 
quoted scores of pages from Shakespeare, and on 
opposite pages the Bible verses which had aided the 
great poet. But the big agnostic again swung his 
arms and brought his fist down on the table (for- 
getting the meeting had a chairman), shouting, "I 
declare this debate and meeting closed." A howl of 
disapproval went up from lusty English throats. 
Next morning Birmingham papers had long racy 
accounts of " How the Young American Worsted 
Bradlaugh." Our success perhaps lay in the fact 
that we confined ourselves to one carefully worded 
question, and demanded an answer. 



CHAPTER IX. 

En route to Berlin. Rotterdam and the Hague. Whence 
the Pilgrims. The Prince of Orange. Queen Wilhelmina. 
The Happy Bathers. A Flower Mania. Windmills for Dowry. 
They Dwelt like Rooks. Cruel Duke of Alva. A Master of 
Light and Shade, Off for Hanover. Leipsic and Books. The 
Madonna, aud Green Vault at Dresden. Ancient Prague and 
Rich Garnets. Hero Radetzky. Intelligent Berlin. The 
Royal Arsenal, and Von Moltke. The HohenzoUern Ghost. 
The German Throne Room. Prince Bismarck. Frederick 
the Great. His Palace and Dogs. The Famous Windmill. 
A Royal Wild Boar Hunt. Emperor William in his Study. 
Heroic Louise, and her Exquisite Mausoleum. The Genius of 
Germany. 

With business and sight-seeing in mind, on Octo- 
ber 14, 1879, ^t 4:45 p. m. I took the London, Chat- 
ham & Dover Railway for Rotterdam, and Russia 
via Berlin. We came thirty-five miles to Queensboro 
by train, thence on the new side-wheel steamboat 
" Princess Marie,'' across the Channel and up the 
Scheldt River to Rotterdam, arriving at 4:45 a. m. 
The gorgeous sunrise seemed to set on fire all the 
river shipping and spires of the Dutch City. Rot- 
terdam, with 160,000 population, second only to 
Amsterdam, is a clean city, and full of busy people. 
They are proud of the statue of Erasmus, a man 
who filled all Europe with his fame in the 15th 



TRAVELS. 155 

and i6th centuries. Left an orphan at thirteen, and 
later in abject poverty by indiscreet guardians, yet 
he became the most learned man of his time. He 
was a lecturer in Cambridge, England, and was 
invited to all parts of Europe because of his scholar- 
ship. His works are preserved in eleven large 
volumes. 

En route to The Hague we stopped at Delft, once 
famous for its pottery, to look at the fine monument 
to William the Silent, the Prince of Orange. He 
was scholarly, rich and noble. He took command 
of the Army against the cruel Duke of Alva who 
acted for Philip H. of Spain, conquered the 
Spanish, and became the " Father of the Dutch 
Republic," which flourished till the time of Na- 
poleon. The Republic of Holland had been a 
grand teacher, however, for the little company who 
received the blessing of their pious minister, John 
Robinson, as they set sail for the New World, to 
suffer and triumph in giving religious liberty to a 
mighty Nation. 

The Hague, originally the hunting-seat of the 
courts of Holland, is a beautiful city with broad, 
handsome streets, elegant business blocks, fine 
homes, and spacious squares. For centuries it has 
been the favorite residence of the Dutch princes. 
Besides its beautiful park three miles long, with its 
lakes and flowers, its picture gallery is the chief 
attraction. Here are some of the masterpieces of 
Rembrandt, who was born in a windmill, poor and 
unknown. 



15^ TRAVELS. 

In the northern part of the city stands a bronze 
statue of William I. Prince of Orange. On the 
pedestal are the arms of the seven provinces. He 
was assassinated in 1584, by a man who received 
25,000 gold crowns from Philip II. for his dastardly 
act. 

Beautiful Queen Wilhelmina, when eighteen years 
old, was crowned Queen of Holland. She was 
born at The Hague August 31, 1880. The young 
Queen speaks several languages, is fond of music 
and pets, but best of all, her subjects are very fond 
of their lovely and loyal Queen. 

Thousands annually visit not far away the noted 
watering place of Scheveningen with its sandy beach 
and strange bathing wagons. The fishermen here 
are quaint in dress and independent in spirit. The 
railway for twenty-six miles north to Haarlem paral- 
lels the sea, and it passes through Old Leyden, 
famous among other things for the fierce siege of 
the Spaniards in 1574. 

Haarlem is clean and attractive. Its defense, 
against the Spaniards, though a failure was heroic, 
even the women earnestly aiding. The slaughter 
of prisoners was terrible. The city is famous for 
its horticulture. The trade in flowers has been a 
specialty in Haarlem for centuries. Whole fields of 
hyacinths, tulips, crocuses and lilies, with their 
brilliant colors, are seen on the south and west sides 
of the town. Two and a half centuries ago the 
flower trade became a mania with the people, so 
that a rare bulb sold for 13,000 florins. One town 



TRAVELS. 157 

gained 10,000,000 florins in a single year by the 
sale of tulip roots. A century later this mania for 
speculation in flowers repeated itself. Each time 
everybody speculated, some made fortunes, while 
others were ruined. 

We find Holland picturesque with windmills, 
used for grinding corn, sawing timber, and pumping 
water from the low ground into canals which carry 
it to the sea. Often they occupy ramparts and 
seem to afford defense with their gigantic arms. 
Some of these windmills are very large, each sail 
exceeding sixty feet in length. Some are of stone, 
some of wood, most have a thatched roof, and win- 
dows with white curtains and green doors. A 
man's wealth is often measured by his windmills, 
and they say of a girl that " she has one or two 
windmills for a dowry." " Pleasure and Repose," 
** Without Care," and other mottoes appear on their 
doors. In area and population Holland, like Great 
Britain, is the center of a large outlying Kingdom. 
The Netherlands are only one-fifteenth in area, and 
contain less than one-sixth of the population of the 
Dutch possessions. 

Northeast, and we come to Amsterdam, the first 
city in Holland. Late at night we stopped at the 
Bible Hotel. The name indicated at least that it 
might be a temperance house. In the morning I 
was surprised that liquors at the hotel bar were be- 
ing sold in great variety, and still more surprised, 
when, standing on the opposite side of the street, I 
saw a big gilt Bible used as a sign by the proprie- 



158 TRAVELS. 

tor. One could read, " Drink no longer water, but 
use a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thine 
often infirmities." I. Timothy, Chap. V. ver. 23. 

At the Gallery in Amsterdam is the Night Watch, 
considered Rembrandt's greatest work. Amster- 
dam is justly proud of the great Rembrandt, whose 
statue in the city is fine. He was the son of a 
miller, and when about twenty years old he fitted 
up a studio in his father's mill. It is thought that 
by observing the light in his lofty chamber, which 
came from one small window, he became a master 
of light and shade, and excelled in vigor and real- 
ism. Pupils came to him from all parts of Europe, 
and he taught them for $50 a year. He died in 
comparative poverty. Long after his death London 
paid $25,000 for one of his 640 paintings. The 
Flemish artists represented the religious life, and 
the Dutch the home life and everyday manners of 
the people. 

We reached Hanover on October 17, and found 
a thriving city, which was formerly the capital of 
the Kingdom of Hanover. But Bismarck abolished 
the Kingdom, and now it is the chief city of the 
Prussian Province of Hanover. Since 1866 its 
growth has been rapid, and the city is proud of her 
buildings, parks, and schools. From Hanover I 
journeyed via Cassel to Leipsic, about the size of 
Hanover, and the center of the German book trade. 
Here are nearly a hundred printing-offices and three 
times as many booksellers' shops, whence books are 
forwarded to all parts of the German Empire, 




WILHELMINA, QUEEN OF THE NETHERLANDS. 



TRAVELS, 159 

Europe, and to more distant countries. Here is a 
very old and important University, and handsome 
theatre, museum, etc. 

The Michaehnas Fair was in progress, and the 
town was crowded with thirty or forty thousand 
traders from all Europe, and from the East came 
Armenians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews and Turks. 
Sometimes $5,000,000 worth of furs annually change 
hands, and many millions worth of leather, cloth, 
linen, woolen goods, and glass are bought and sold. 
I enjoyed mingling with the peasant people from 
the mountains, who were at the Fair to sell their 
humble wares, and I made a few purchases. 

From the tower of Pleissenburg we had a bird's- 
eye view of the Battle of Leipsic, or the " Battle of 
Nations," which lasted from the i6th to the 19th of 
October, 18 13. Napoleon's forces probably num- 
bered less than 150,000, and the Allied troops twice 
as many. The Allied armies lost about 50,000, 
while not more than 90,000 of the French army on 
October 19 began their retreat to the Rhine. 

On October 20-22 I visited both Dresden, and 
Prague. Dresden, the capital of the Kingdom of 
Saxony, is sometimes called the " German Flor- 
ence." It is separated by the River Elbe into the 
Old City, and the New City, which are connected by 
arched bridores. Dresden is also called the cradle 

o 

of Rococo Art, its essential features being chiefly 
a revival, or an exaggeration perhaps, of the style of 
the age of Louis XIV. and XV., in respect to archi- 
tecture, exterior and interior, furniture, landscape 



l6o TRAVELS. 

gardening, etc. Two leading events in the history 
of art in this city are the founding of the Zwinger, 
and the invention in 1709 of porcelain by Bottcher. 

Near the old bridge on the left bank of the Elbe 
is situated the favorite Bruhl Terrace or promenade, 
the Palace Museum, the Zwinger, the Green Vault 
with valuable jewels and curiosities, and the Pic- 
ture Gallery with the Sistine Madonna and other 
precious paintings. 

In the New City, on the right bank the Royal Li- 
brary and the Japanese Palace are of interest, as also 
is the Grosse Garten, a royal park southeast of the 
city. The suburbs of Dresden are beautiful. 

The ride of 118 miles south to Prague is through 
Saxon Switzerland. The sandstone mountains 
assume the most grotesque shapes, partially clothed 
with ferns and mosses, the gorges are wild and 
Avooded, and the lofty abrupt peaks resemble 
gigantic castles. 

Prague is the ancient capital of Bohemia, and is 
located midway between Berlin and Vienna. The 
Kingdom of Bohemia, the northwestern division of 
the Austrian Empire, is about half the size of the 
State of Ohio. This extensive upland valley is 
surrounded by mountains, which furnish valuable 
minerals and precious stones. The population of 
Bohemia is about five millions ; of Prague, about two 
hundred thousand, over half being Bohemians. The 
city boasts of many interesting mediaeval buildings. 
Above all, like a capitol, is seen the venerable cas- 
tle of Hradschin, with its tall cathedral tower and 



TRAVELS. l6l 

series of palaces. Here the Bohemian kings lived 
for centuries. From one of its windows, 80 feet 
above the ground, members of the Imperial Govern- 
ment were thrown by Bohemian nobles, an act 
which virtually began the Thirty Years War. 

We cross the Charles Bridge, which is one-third 
of a mile in length. It has sixteen arches, and was 
built over 500 years ago. Ancient towers of de- 
fense stand at each end, with statues of rulers. 
For ten years, heads of Protestant Noblemen were 
exposed to view on the tower at the east end. 
Thirty statutes and groups of saints adorn the but- 
tresses. A bronze statue of Bohemia's patron 
saint, St. John Nepomuc, is noticed. Five centu- 
ries ago the priest's body was flung from the bridge 
for refusing to betray an Empress' secret confided 
at confessional, and according to a legend, five 
bright stars for some time hovered over the body. 
Later he was canonized by the Pope. Thousands 
of devotees perform pilgrimages to this bridge on 
May i6th, the saint's festival. 

You rarely tire of wandering in these quaint 
streets, and without urging, you buy artistic Bohe- 
mian glass, exquisite laces made in the mountains, 
and beautiful garnets famous over Europe. Huss 
and Jerome, by their vigorous protest against some 
beliefs of the Catholic church became harbingers 
of the Reformation ; they were here burned, and 
their ashes cast into the Rhine, which bore them 
on to the ocean, and became a symbol of the 
truths which they uttered, and which have blessed 



1 62 TRAVELS. 

the whole world. Early in the 17th century, three 
fourths of Bohemia was Protestant. In the very 
year the Pilgrims landed in New England, Ferdi- 
nand V. gained a victory at Prague, brought per- 
secution unparalleled, and three thousand Protest- 
ant families were driven into exile. In later years, 
under a more liberal system, Bohemia is advancing 
in prosperity. 

Near St. Nicholas' Church is the Radetzky Monu- 
ment, erected in 1858 by the Bohemian Art Union 
to the memory of Joseph Radetzky, a Bohemian 
general, who was chief of the staff of Field Marshal 
Swarzenberg, and helped to plan the battle of 
Leipsic, where Napoleon Bonaparte was over- 
whelmed. Most of the military orders of Europe 
honored this hero, who died in 1858 at Milan, ninety 
years old. The Marshal, in heroic size, with flag in 
hand, stands on a shield borne by eight soldiers. 

We left Prague at 10:45 P- '^'^-^ ^"d arrived at 
8:30 a. m., next day in Berlin, city of intellectual 
development in Northern Germany, and capital of 
the German Empire. Though built in the midst of 
a sandy desert, Frederick the Great planned that it 
should be a worthy capital. We visit the Thier- 
garten, an attractive park west of the city, which 
abounds in small lakes and lovely drives. Along 
this roadway on March 17, 1 871, marched Emperor 
William and his victorious army returning from 
Paris. In sight stands the Monument of Victory. 
Doric columns support a roof decorated with lions' 
heads, beneath which is the Hall of Victory. On 



TRAVELS. 163 

the walls are bronze reliefs, and mosaics which com- 
memorate the victories and restoration of the Ger- 
man Empire 1870-71. From the hall rises a 
column of yellowish gray sandstone, in the twenty 
flutings of which are three rows of Danish, Austrian, 
and French cannons, sixty in all. The capital is 
formed of eagles and crowned with a Borussia. We 
pass beneath the Brandenburg Gate, made a cen- 
tury ago, in imitation of one at Athens 70 feet 
high and 200 feet wide. The middle passage is 
reserved for Royalty. It stands at the head of the 
Avenue Unter den Linden, 165 feet in width, and 
shaded with lime trees. This Avenue is flanked 
with handsome palaces, hotels and shops. The Car 
of Victory that rides this splendid gateway is of 
copper. It was taken to Paris by Napoleon, but 
properly returned in 18 14. 

Berlin is growing rapidly, having a population of 
1,300,000 (1885). The city is three times the size of 
Boston, and is not inferior in well-equipped schools, 
well paved streets, and benevolent institutions. 
Taxes in Berlin are low, and the city is mainly 
governed by forty-eight capable committees of the 
city council. The Germans are conservative, but 
thorough in what they undertake. *' Don't jerk the 
strap that way, it rings the bell at both ends of the 
car," said the angry conductor to a German, ex- 
cited because the horses didn't stop. '' I rings 
him dat vay, because I vants him to stop at both 
ends." 

" Berlin is one of the best cities of Europe in 



164 TRAVELS. 

which to study Art," said our Ambassador, Andrew 
D. White, late President of Cornell University. 
Everything in art in the Museum and elsewhere is 
most orderly in arrangment. The University has 
thousands of students ; the Royal Library nearly 
1,000,000 volumes. Technical and other valuable 
schools are carefully encouraged. 

The Royal Arsenal stands opposite Emperor 
William's Palace at the east end of the Unter den 
Linden. It is 213 feet square and one of the finest 
in Europe, and within are 100,000 fire-arms, French 
cannon, two battlefield pieces, captured flags, etc. 
The streets of Berlin and other German cities 
abound in military men. Every German is subject 
to military duty, and cannot perform it by proxy. 
He must serve three years in the standing army, 
and four on the reserve. For pay he receives 
clothes, breakfast, dinner and about thirty cents per 
day. Every soldier is a thinking machine. Cavalry 
regiments are drilled in the art of swimming rivers. 
The annual cost of the German army and navy is 
over $100,000,000. The genius that presided over 
the War Department was Count von Moltke, "The 
Silent," who held his tongue in seven languages. 
He was born in Mecklenburg October 26, 1800, 
and died in Berlin, April 24, 1891. He was tall, 
slender and erect, and had gray eyes, a beardless 
face and auburn hair. He wore his cap and 
long military coat until he died. People often 
met him unattended in his walks through Berlin. 
Though saluted by every soldier he met, he retained 



TRAVELS, 165 

a mysterious manner which was not broken even at 
Sedan. 

Young Von Moltke was schooled in military at 
Copenhagen, and later at Berlin, and was made 
captain. For several years he served under the 
Sultan, and while in Turkey he wrote a series of 
letters to his only sister, who had married a 
Mr. Burt. Burt's daughter, only sixteen, was so 
delighted with these that on Captain von Moltke's 
return, although he was over forty, she loved 
and married him. She is buried at his summer 
home; Von Moltke designing the tomb, the 
key of which he always carried. While alive he 
visited the place daily. In his sleeping room, fur- 
nished only with an iron easy bedstead, are two 
pictures of his wife. He rose regularly at five, and 
came to his study at seven. He made his own 
coffee over a spirit lamp, and wrote till nine. His 
motto was '' Erst wages dann wagen." " First 
weigh then venture." " Father Moltke," as the 
soldiers called him, planned the Franco-Prussian 
War. He was made Marshal in Chief, received the 
Orders of the Iron Cross and of St. George, the 
latter the highest in the gift of the Czar. When 
praised he said, " I have but done my duty." 

The Royal Palace is opposite the old Museum and 
was built two hundred years ago, 1716. It is 552 
feet long, has 600 apartments, and is entered by 
five portals. We pass through one of the five 
grand entrances, and climb the Staircase of Honor, 
which is embellished with candelabra, and marble 



1 66 TRAVELS. 

statues of the German Emperors, Constantine, 
Charlemagne and others. This staircase leads to a 
Hall with full-length portraits of all the Kings of 
Prussia, and Queen Louise's graceful figure in 
white and gold. Passing through several rooms we 
enter the historic White Saloon, which is the largest 
room in the Palace, loo feet by 40 feet high. Two 
ranges of arcades rise one above the other. The 
silvered capitals support white marble statues of the 
twelve Electors of Brandenburg. Above these is 
the vaulted and richly decorated roof, from which 
are suspended many brilliant chandeliers. It is said 
that here, before the death of any member of the 
HohenzoUern Family, a ghost appears. The 
Countess Agnes of Orlamunde was in love with 
Albert of Nuremburg. He could not marry, he 
said, *' because four eyes stood in the way," mean- 
ing his father and mother. She supposed he meant 
her two children, and so had them suffocated. 
Stricken with horror, Albert told her of her terrible 
mistake, and of course could not marry her. The 
Countess sank into her grave in keen remorse. 
Now her spirit, it is believed, haunts the Halls of 
the Hohenzollerns. 

We pass into the Throne Room, which is decor- 
ated in white and gold. The silver throne and 
shield are seen against the crimson, which is pro- 
fusely covered with tiny golden crowns ; above is sus- 
pended a heavy silvered quartz chandelier, and 
against the wall is a music balcony. In this Palace 
the Emperor dines annually with all who wear for 



TRAVELS. 167 

bravery the Order of the Iron Cross, which was 
founded on the first anniversary of the death of 
heroic Louise. This Order is much sought after by 
the Germans. 

For a long time a greater power than even Em- 
peror William was Prince Otto von Bismarck, who 
was the real power behind the throne. He was 
Chancellor of the German Empire, in fact, its cre- 
ator, and in some respects the greatest man in 
Europe. He was born April i, 181 5, and died 
1898. He was tall, strongly built, and had large 
eyes. His thick mustache, spiked helmet and dig- 
nified movements gave him a decidedly military 
bearing. *' Never mind," was his motto cut in an 
iron finger ring. Bismarck came from a fine family, 
but was not Gladstone's equal as a scholar or gen- 
tleman. Bismarck said that '* the great questions of 
the day are to be decided by iron and blood." His 
oratory was like a sledge hammer, and with a smile 
or frown he filled all Europe with hope or fear. 
M. Jules Favre was astonished at the indemnity 
asked of France, 5,000,000,000 francs, and said of 
counting it, *' even if a man had begun to reckon at 
the birth of Christ, he would not have finished at 
the present time." Bismarck, turning to a Jewish 
banker, coolly replied, *' I have brought with me 
this gentleman, who counts from the time of Father 
Abraham." And France was compelled to pay 
even to the last franc. After the Franco-Prussian 
War an estate worth over a $1,000,000 was given 
to Bismarck. Most of his time till his death in 



1 68 TRAVELS. 

1898, was spent at Varzin. Bismarck was a large 
paper maker, distiller and timber merchant. His 
Berlin residence was at "j^ Wilhelms Strasse. Bis- 
marck said, '' A really great man is known by three 
signs : Generosity in the design, humanity in the 
execution, and moderation in success." It was 
once said that the will of Bismarck was the voice of 
fate. 

Near the Royal Palace is the statue of Frederick 
the Great. It is one of the grandest equestrian 
statue monuments in Europe. The pedestal is of 
polished granite ; at the corners, and intervening, 
are spirited groups of Frederick's Generals. Higher 
up are scenes in his early life. He was dragged 
and kicked about by his father, and would have 
been killed had not Royalty interfered. We see 
the great King on horseback in bronze. He was 
ambitious, and said, " he desired people to talk 
about him, and so made war." He never minded 
libels. *' My people are to say what they like, and 
I am to do what I like." He was an able soldier, 
good musician, and a tireless worker, rising at four 
and retiring at midnight. He wrote twenty-five 
octavo volumes in odds and ends of time, prized 
every moment, and made Prussia one of the '' Five 
Great Powers." He sent his sword to Washington 
with the words *' From the oldest general in the 
world to the ablest." 

Our clever guide took us sixteen miles southwest 
to Potsdam, a garrisoned city of 50,000 population. 
About what Versailles is to Paris, that Potsdam is 



TRAVELS. 169 

to Berlin. The situation is charming, upon an 
island in the Havel, which expands into a series of 
lakes and is surrounded by wooded hills. Potsdam 
is greatly indebted to Frederick the Great for its 
modern splendor. 

The new palace at Potsdam was built hy Freder- 
ick the Great at the close of the Seven Year's War 
at vast expense, to correct a report that the war 
had impoverished his purse. The palace seems 
overloaded with costly statues. Its construction, 
however, nearly bankrupted Prussia. Pride and 
architects ruin many. Most of the 200 apart- 
ments are richly decorated and furnished. When 
completed, Frederick said that he had no further 
use for it, as he had demonstrated to the world 
that a determined will can accomplish much. He 
lived at the Palace of Sanssouci, a building of one 
story. His rooms are preserved almost unaltered. 
The fine upholstery was torn by his favorite dogs, 
whom he buried with his favorite horses just out- 
side the palace. 

Back of Sanssouci is the famous Windmill, which 
reminds one of Holland. The mill is historic. 
Royalty wanted the land, but the honest owner, a 
miller, would not sell the mill, saying that the just 
German laws would sustain his title ; and though the 
King was plaintiff, the Court justly sustained the 
title as valid in the mill-owner. 

Before setting out from Potsdam we attended a 
wild boar hunt in the Royal Pine Forests. The 
Germans are fond of hunting the wild boar, as the 



1 70 TRA VELS. 

Russians are of following the bear, or the English 
the fox. Carriages soon brought us into the beau- 
tiful forests. The woodlands of Germany cover 
one-fourth of the Empire. Greatest attention is 
paid to forest culture, while Americans criminally 
waste their supplies of wood. At 12 o'clock a 
brilliant assembly of Royalty and nobility had 
gathered. Fine music was furnished by a military 
band. The wild boar, with tusks cut short, was 
allowed to escape from a log pen, and given ten 
minutes the start. I saw a hundred hounds, that 
sat in a circle on their haunches. Suddenly, a blast 
from the horn, and away flew the hundred hounds, 
followed by a hundred eager hunters in hot haste. 
Within an hour the wild boar was brought back, 
maimed and dead. 

I am glad that most Americans are too refined to 
engage in the sport of torturing innocent animals, 
and that we are busy building up a grand and free 
Nation. 

Again we return to Berlin. When the Emperor 
William was twelve years old, though in delicate 
health, his mother one day said to him, *' William, 
you see me weep ; when I am no more, be not satis- 
fied with tears, but deserve the fame of a hero, and 
under God you may deliver your suffering country." 
William had spent his life in uniform. He was a 
man of twenty-five years when General Grant was 
born. On the seventieth anniversary of his military 
career, the officers of his army presented to him a 




FOUR GENERATIONS IN THE GERMAN IMPERIAL FAMILY. 



TRAVELS. 171 

golden sword, and engraved thereon were the names 
of his many battles. 

We visited the late Emperor William's study. 
He daily consulted a calendar of Bible texts and 
proverbs. His first visitor was the Doctor, who 
prescribed for the day. On his desk was a lapis- 
lazuli paper weight, and often his favorite blue corn 
flowers, which were once made into a little crown 
for him by his mother when a broken carriage de- 
layed the Royal family escaping from Napoleon's 
victorious arms. His work-table faces the Linden. 
In sight are army papers and books, one the Bible, 
photographs of his family, statuettes and busts of 
German heroes. On the wall is a large painting of 
the Empress, the '' Dear Augusta " of his pious 
telegrams sent from France. Though on her knees 
Augusta besought her husband not to heed Bis- 
marck's suggestions for a reunited Germany, yet as 
the war began she penned patriotic appeals to the 
women of Germany to send succor to the Rhine. 
On the wall also hangs a painting of beautiful 
Queen Louise, mother of Emperor William, and 
wife of Frederick William IH. whose statue is at 
Cologne. 

When Frederick William HL first saw Louise, he 
said mentally, in the words of Schiller, "■ 'Tis she 
or none on earth." Louise was a woman of re- 
markable beauty and heroic character. Goethe 
said of her and her sister, both dressed in white at 
their marriage, " I could only compare them to 
two celestial beings." She was sympathetic, cheer- 



1/2 TRAVELS. 

ful, frank, intelligent, a model of punctuality, had 
the sweetest smile, and was as gentle as a child. 
Through her influence Alexander of Russia, and 
Frederick her husband, at the tomb of Frederick 
the Great, grasped hands, the midnight stars acting 
as witnesses, and there she had them swear ever- 
lasting hostility to Napoleon, who seemed to play 
with the thrones of Europe as a pastime. In the 
war that followed, Louise inspired her timid hus- 
band with unflinching courage ; she even appeared 
in uniform at the head of the troops, by whom she 
was idolized. Her touching words often to the 
soldiers were, *' My children, fight like Prussians." 
But Napoleon conquered and humiliated Prussia, 
even capturing several standards embroidered by 
Louise, whose beauty Napoleon said " was as fatal 
to Prussia as that of Helen was to the citizens of 
Troy." Napoleon caused scandalous things to be 
published about Louise, because she hated him, 
while he was infatuated with her. He met Louise 
at Tilsit ; she had but one theme, '' Prussia, Prus- 
sia ! " Yet the great indemnity fixed on Prussia 
sadly impoverished the Kingdom and the Royal 
Family. Her son. Emperor William, was noble, 
came to be a very old man, strong and reliable. 
The Emperor lived to know seven generations. 
He was born March 22, 1797, and from the land of 
tall men, was much above the average height. A 
bristling mustache concealed his thin lips, and his 
shaggy eyebrows half concealed his bright gray 
eyes. His checks even in old age were tinged with 



TRAVELS. 173 

red. As was his custom, he slept, till he died, 
March 9, 1888, on an iron cot-bed, at the head of 
which stands an exquisite marble of his mother, 
Louise. 

Retracing our steps west through Berlin, we 
visited the Park at Charlottenburg ; an avenue of 
stately pines leads to a grand Mausoleum built in 
Doric style, and one of the most beautiful royal 
tombs in the world. Here rest the remains of 
Queen Louise, and Frederick William IIL, who, 
after the first victory in 1814 of the Prussians over 
Napoleon, laid a laurel wreath on the tomb of 
his wife. In an ante-room are seen the wreaths 
brought here by her seven children on the first 
anniversary of their mother's death. The timber 
cutters, coal heavers and amber workers felt that 
what Louise touched was holy ; she " loved us all," 
they said. When Napoleon IIL declared war, King 
William knelt in his mother's tomb for inspiration 
and approval, and the German banners bore into 
France their constant prayer, '' Gott Mit Uns." 
Emperor William, returning to Berlin at the head 
of his victorious army, again hastened to this sacred 
spot and placed a wreath of laurel over his mother's 
brow, and thanked God for a reunited Germany. 

Beautiful Louise, whom every German round the 
world honors, seems in a quiet sleep, but she has 
ceased to suffer for the wrongs of Prussia ; the heart 
beneath those shapely hands of marble is silent, but 
her spirit lives. Queen Louise, more than any other 
woman in history, has, through her son William 



174 TRAVELS. 

controlled the destinies of a mighty Empire. A 
soft blue light bathes the exquisite statue. How 
lovely the face ! 

" They made her young and lovely ; 
The sculptor would not trace 
A single line of pain or tears 
Upon that sweet, sweet face. 

Rest, thou Genius of Germany ; 

Full sixty years have passed, 
But thy boy, the gray haired Emperor, 

Has kept his word at last. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Start from Berlin. Through Eastern Prussia. Pass- 
port Demanded. A Few Russian Words. Arrival at St. 
Petersburg. Ride in a Drosky. Peter's Paradise. His Won- 
derful Energy. Builds Boats in Holland, Studies London. 
Peter's Glory is Petersburg. Canals and Bridges Everywhere. 
The Grandfather of the Russian Navy. Elegant Palaces, 
Churches, Monuments, etc. Catharine the Great. Her Superb 
Palaces aud Museum. Magnificent St. Isaac. The Imperial 
Library. Alexander I. Column. The Russian St. Peter's. 
Fine Interior. Alexander II., the Liberator. The Freed 
Serfs. The Fata Bomb, and the Burial of an Emperor. The 
Theatre and Drama. Alexander III. and Queenly Dagmar. 
His Silver Calling Card. 

While in Berlin Augustus Mueller was my faith- 
ful guide. He had served in Berlin as Guide to 
the late active Emperor of Brazil, Pedro H., who 
was famed for the protection he accorded to science 
and literature, and who was greatly respected at 
home and abroad. 

On Saturday, October 25, I sold forty English 
pounds for 808 German marks (the mark, equivalent 
to the English shilling, is divided into 100 pfen- 
nigs), and bought 200 Russian rubles for 435 marks. 
The ruble is a silver coin of Russia equal in value 
to 100 copper copecks, and worth from seventy-five 
to eighty-six cents. 



176 TRAVELS. 

In my journey thus far I had made several small 
purchases, and to be relieved of them I expressed a 
box back to London. No doubt my guide got 
commissions. He was urgent that I should buy a 
thick fur-lined overcoat for protection in my jour- 
ney through Russia. He would see me off at the 
railway station. The Ostbahn depot was bright 
with a dozen arc lights, and we said adieu to our 
guide at 11:15 P- n^-> ^^'id the long journey of 2,000 
miles began through Russia. 

It was past midnight when we crossed the Oder 
River, and late the next day we breakfasted, 287 
miles east of Berlin, at Dirshak on theVistula River. 
The railway bridge over the river is 2600 feet long, 
and cost about one million dollars. At 12:30 we 
dined on the Pregel River at Konigsberg, 338 miles 
northeast from Berlin, formerly capital of both 
East and West Prussia. In 1385 this city was a 
member of the Hanseatic League. During the 
Seven Years' War Konigsberg was occupied by 
both the French and the Russians. 

En route we talked with a seed merchant from 
Posen, and a lumber merchant, who bought logs 
1500 miles up the Vistula River, so far away that it 
took two summers to float them to market. A 
Russian lady, with a poodle dog, taught us a few 
Russian words : Da, yes ; Nyet, no ; also the words 
for, What cost, quick, stop, waiter, rolls, coffee, 
butter, etc. 

At the little Polish town of Wirballen we crossed 
the Memel River (Niemen) from Germany into 



TRAVELS. 177 

Russia. Near b}^, at Tilsit, on the left bank, a 
treaty between France, Russia and Prussia was 
signed on the /th of July, 1 807, on a raft in the 
river. 

On the West side of this river stood the Lutheran 
Church, and the helmeted soldier in defense of the 
German Empire, while East of the stream was the 
quaint Russian Church, and the Cossack soldier 
with gray overcoat, helmet and black plume, his 
sword dangling, on guard for the Russian Empire. 

My passport, which was signed by our Secretary 
of State, Hon. Wm. H. Seward, had been called for 
only once before and registered at Police Headquar- 
ters in Berlin. Here again it was carefully examined. 
No foreign passport was valid in Russia, unless it 
was countersigned by the proper Russian official in 
London, or some large city, and nobody without 
a passport could enter Russia. 

In the Russian station was a room about sixty 
feet square, and a half dozen slow officials were 
near a big table. I inquired the duty of these offi- 
cials, and was told that here suspicious persons were 
examined. In my valise I had a dozen or more 
small paper boxes, all nested. It was amusing to 
watch the official's anxious face, as he suspiciously 
separated each box, till he came to the inner and 
tiny box. Then he carefully opened it, and in dis- 
gust threw the whole lot upon the table. In repack- 
ing my boxes I nearly lost my train. 

As I recall the journey to St. Petersburg, it was 
about 810 miles, and Wirballen was midway. The 



1/8 TRAVELS. 

farming country through Eastern Prussia was not 
unlike that in New York State, but much of the 
soil seemed sandy and poor, and some low and 
marshy, pines and birches growing everywhere. 
The little villages look poverty stricken, and the 
Russians at the stations were stolid and shabbily 
dressed. 

We arrived at St. Petersburg at 6 p. m. and took 
a drosky to the Hotel de Europe. My mail, opened 
as I sat waiting for tea, was a sad one, for it brought 
news of the death of my good friends, Mr. H. 
Thane Miller, of Cincinnati, and Mr. Orville D. 
Ford, of Cleveland who died en route from Colorado. 

A drosky is characteristic of Russia ; a low 
wagon with two or three horses attached, by yokes 
high over their necks. The merry bells delight 
you even in summer. The drivers are veritable 
Jehus, and the rule in Russia is always to divide 
any prices they may ask. The shop signs afford an 
opportunity to study the Russian language, which 
is almost as difficult to learn as English. There 
are thirty-six letters in their alphabet ; possibly eight 
of them are Greek characters. We drove through 
several fine Boulevards, passed public and uniform 
buildings ; two and four rows of shade trees line 
many of the avenues, and church domes in blue 
and gilt were seen here and there. The streets 
called ''Prospects" are usually long, wide and 
shaded, but badly paved. In an early day every 
ship and wagon entering St. Petersburg was required 
to bring an offering of white paving stones. 



TRAVELS. 179 

The many canals, watercourses and islands recall 
both Amsterdam and Venice. The city has over 
150 bridges, one third made of iron and granite. 
Peter's first palace near the Fortress on the banks 
of the Neva is carefully preserved. It contains din- 
ing-room, bed-room and kitchen. Here Peter lived 
while superintending the construction of his capital. 
He assembled 40,000 Cossacks and Tartar soldiers 
and peasants as laborers, and they dug the soil 
with their hands and sticks. Peter often lacked 
food, and 100,000 men died in the marshes. He 
watched the growth of the capital with great pride, 
and often said *' he seemed in Paradise." He 
piloted into the new harbor the first Dutch ship 
and often gave chase to hostile Swedish vessels. 
He brought merchants from Novgorod, and to 
attract masons he forbade, on pain of exile, any 
stone building to be constructed outside of St. 
Petersburg. All who owned 500 serfs must build a 
two story stone house in St. Petersburg. His 
Court was approached only by water, and every 
inhabitant must have his boat. 

Peter the Great was fifth in the line of Romanoffs. 
He was stately in form, had piercing black eyes, 
and an impetuous temper. He was born at Moscow 
in 1672, and succeeded to the crown at ten. Sophia, 
a half sister, as Regent, gave him a defective educa- 
tion, and sought to supplant him. The boy Peter 
loved banners, drums and toy guns, and played 
soldier with his mates. His youthful energy and 
good sense soon made him a power in the Empire. 



l80 TRAVELS. 

Azof on the Black Sea was captured from the 
Turks. He explored the White Sea, and gained 
European ideas from English sailors, which only 
made him long for more knowledge of Europe. 
With intense curiosity he traveled through Germany, 
and visited England and Paris. At Zaandam in Hol- 
land he dwelt in a blacksmith hut, boiled his own 
coffee, and received wages at ship-building, that he 
might master the art of the sea. He was interested 
in everything, in grist mills, hospitals, museums, 
and iron works; he studied fortifications, govern- 
ment and science. A wandering dentist taught him 
dentistry, and at home for variety he practiced it 
on his friends. In Paris he took the child Louis XV. 
in his arms. He was delighted with what London 
had to exhibit. He visited Woolwich Arsenal, 
attended naval displays, and Quaker meetings, even 
studying religious creeds. At Westminster he was 
told that those persons wearing gowns and wigs 
were lawyers. He looked astonished and said, '' I 
have but two lawyers in my whole Empire, and I 
believe I shall hang one of those on my return." 

Peter's new capital of Russia is 1550 miles 
northeast of Paris, and is situated on both banks of 
the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland. 
The river is 1500 feet wide, and only about forty 
miles long, and connects the Gulf with Lake Lado- 
ga, one of the largest lakes in Europe. The Neva 
entering the city bends north, then west, and 
divides into several branches, forming marshy 
islands, a series of flats, the whole oval shape, and 



TRAVELS. 161 

exposed to frequent inundations. Here the energy 
and genius of a single man built a city, which in 
magnificence and in splendor ranks among the first 
of European capitals. Twenty miles west is the 
great naval station of Cronstadt. 

Several bridges of boats in the summer season 
span the river Neva, and many ferry-boats of fan- 
tastic color ply to and fro. Peter was ambitious to 
make Russia a European nation, and he gave a 
system of foreign laws, to each Province. He regu- 
lated taxes, allowed foreigners to work mines and 
factories. He made a new alphabet, founded 
schools, colleges, and the Moscow Gazette. He 
created a regular army, built hospitals, canals, and 
sent out exploring expeditions. But Peter's chief 
glory is St. Petersburg, the new capital. 

The Admiralty, on the river bank, is 1350 feet 
long, and 630 feet wide. A gallery-like tower is 
decorated with statuary, and terminates in a grace- 
ful golden spire. It is occupied by the Navy De- 
partment, and cadets. In a brick building across 
the river is shown Peter's first boat, which bears the 
proud title of *' The Grandfather of the Russian 
Navy." Lower down the river vessels of war are 
built. South of the Admiralty dwell the Court, 
nobility, and half the six or seven hundred thou- 
sand population. The enemies of reform at Mos- 
cow called St. Petersburg a German town and pre- 
dicted that some day it will disappear beneath the 
floods. 

In sight is the Holy Trinity Church, with dark 



1 82 TRAVELS. 

blue cupola bespangled with stars. Much money 
is raised by nuns as you attend service and by 
beggars, who usually go about in old sheep-skin 
coats, the coats mended in many places. Scores of 
deformed, ragged and blind cripples, stand on 
either side of the church doors to beg. This church 
stands on the site of the chapel where Peter the Great 
was married in 1712 to his second wife Catharine. 
In the war with Sweden, Peter's army took prisoner a 
woman peasant, called Catharine, who was betrothed 
to a Swedish dragoon. Peter became fascinated by 
her vivacity of mind, good sense and adventurous 
spirit. The nobles objected, but he married her 
notwithstanding. 

A visit to the Fortress was of great interest. 
The walls are covered with military trophies. 
Peter in 1703 laid the foundations of this Fortress. 
In the Cathedral lie buried most of the later Sov- 
ereigns of Russia. The Fortress is especially 
memorable as the scene of a great tragedy. Peter 
with 60,000 soldiers had met the proud Charles XII. 
of Sweden with 20,000 soldiers ; intoxicated with 
success the Swedish King was terribly defeated 
at Pultowa, being borne away wounded on a litter. 
During the conflict the army of Charles XII. was 
well nigh annihilated. When Peter after twenty- 
two years of war, had at last conquered a peace 
the great sorrow of his life came. His only son 
Alexis, by his first wife, revolted against him, 
promised to cede St. Petersburg to Sweden, and 
then take the government back to Moscow. The 



TRAVELS. 183 

son having fled to Vienna, he was arrested brought 
back and placed in this Fortress, while later his 
associates were put to death in horrible ways. 
One had a stake driven through his body while 
alive, and others were burned. Alexis himself was 
twice beaten with the knout, and when near death 
sent for his severe and autocratic father. The 
meeting was pitiful, but it did not prevent a third 
knouting, during which his lacerated body found 
relief in death. He was buried in a velvet coffin 
covered with gold tissue, in great state, and Peter 
and Catharine carried small wax tapers in the 
funeral procession. Broken in spirit by remorse 
at his treatment of this son, and the death a year 
later of his only son by Catharine, Peter built a 
summer palace at Peterhoff, 24 miles from St. 
Petersburg, From the Palace to the sea the 
grounds are terraced with picturesque waterfalls. 
A canal 500 yards long, abounds, in fountains, 
which throw water horizontally and vertically and 
has not its superior for beauty in Europe. 

The Palace, built on an elevation of 60 feet, is 
a long yellow stuccoed building, three stories high, 
with white pilasters and five gilt towers. On the 
grounds Peter built a little house where he could 
look out upon his growing fleet at Cronstadt, near 
by, and visitors are shown a Dutch summer house 
where his slippers and dressing gown are still ex- 
hibited as precious relics. Here, also, is Peter's 
carp pond where the fish came to the surface at 
the ringing of a bell, to be fed on rye flour. Peter 



1 84 TRA VELS. 

lived frugally, without ostentation, his great fault 
being an excessive use of stimulants. 

Some five years after Peter built Peterhoff, the 
end of his remarkable reign suddenly came. The 
man who had said to his soldiers, *' You must not 
think it is for Peter we fight ; it is for the Empire 
confided to Peter; it is for the country ; it is for the 
church of God," was to cease his wonderful career 
at fifty-three. Impetuous to the last, he plunged 
into ice-cold water to save a crew of shipwrecked 
sailors, and dying suddenly in the arms of Catha- 
rine, he did not even speak or write his last wishes. 
The funeral ceremonies were so grand and impos- 
ing that six weeks elapsed before the body was 
placed in its tomb in the Fortress. 

Russia, justly proud of the conquests of Peter, 
and of his wonderful courage and skill, erected to 
his memory one of the world's finest equestrian 
monuments. It is situated opposite St. Isaac's 
Cathedral, and represents Peter reining in his horse 
on the brink of a precipice. His face is toward the 
Neva, which he loved ; his hand is pointing out 
toward the great city his iron will had built as if by 
magic. His fine head was modeled by a woman. 
A serpent is trodden under the horse's feet, emblem- 
atical of the obstacles which Peter met and always 
overcame. The pedestal is a granite boulder and 
alone weighs 1500 tons; it is said to have been 
the rock on which Peter stood watching with eager- 
ness a great naval victory over the Swedes. It 
required the labor of five weeks of 500 men to 



TRAVELS. 185 

bring the boulder four miles to St. Petersburg. It 
was brought on cannon balls over an iron tramway. 

Catharine the Great was the sixth to reign after 
Peter. When told of her accession to the throne 
she hastened from Peterhoff in a peasant wagon, 
and her horse, falling dead, she went to St. Peters- 
burg on foot, lest another secure the crown. For 
more than thirty years she governed Russia with 
an ability that was scarcely surpassed by Peter the 
Great. She helped to crush Poland. When any of 
her generals shrunk from war, she said, " The 
Romans did not concern themselves with the num- 
ber of their enemies, they only asked, where are 
they ? " She carried on two bitter wars with Turkey 
and annexed the whole of the Crimea. Tsarskoye 
Selo, 15 miles from St. Petersburg, was her favorite 
summer residence. The floor of one room is ebony, 
inlaid with large flowers of mother of pearl. An- 
other has its walls panelled with amber, given to her 
by Frederick the Great. On the extensive grounds 
about the Palace are statuary, a Swiss house, and a 
Chinese village. Her bedroom had walls of porce- 
lain, and the walls of her banqueting room, nine 
feet high, were overlaid with gold. 

Wedgwood made for Catharine II. a celebrated 
china dinner set, 365 pieces, lemon color with pur- 
ple border, a green frog on each piece, the set deco- 
rated with paintings of 1800 of the finest country 
homes of England. 

Catharine the Great entertained the leading 
scholars of her time, and was the correspondent of 



1 86 TRAVELS. 

Voltaire ; she wrote history, dramas, and was the 
earnest patron of Russian literature. 

The Hermitage is a great repository of art. She 
spent a million dollars for pictures in a single year. 
She founded schools of art and science, and looked 
especially to the education of women. The grand 
stairway of the Hermitage is of marble, and leads 
past twenty monoliths of gray polished granite to 
the gallery of Peter the Great, where is shown 
Peter turning lathes, his heavy iron staff, sword, gilt 
chariot, and stuffed horses and dogs, and a wax 
figure of himself in pink stockings and embroidered 
white coat. The Hermitage also contains twenty 
galleries of fine paintings. Here are twenty paint- 
ings by Millais, and sixty by Rubens. We enter 
a Gallery of Sculpture, and where are there 
such large vases of malachite, jasper and lapis 
lazuli ? 

Catharine not only aided in the culture of her 
country, but she formed a new code of laws, built 
foundling asylums in St. Petersburg and Moscow, 
welcomed back the expelled Jews, and founded 200 
cities. The Russian proverb that " Cities ruled by 
women endure not, and walls built by women are 
never high," certainly proved untrue in the case of 
Catharine, who was well called the Semiramis of the 
North. 

The Cathedral of St. Isaac was begun in the early 
part of this century, 1819, and is built on a forest of 
piles sunk in the swampy soil at a cost of $1,000,000. 
It stands in a large open place surrounded by fine 



TRAVELS. 187 

buildings and monuments. The whole structure 
cost $15,000,000. This church, in the Renaissance 
style, is the largest in St. Petersburg. Its magnifi- 
cent proportions excite admiration. Its four equal 
sides form a Greek cross ; one hundred and twelve 
highly polished granite pillars from Finland form 
noble porticoes. The Corinthian capitals are of 
bronze. Thirty gigantic columns support the 
immense central dome, which is surrounded by four 
small ones. The cupolas are first covered with 
copper and then overlaid with 200 pounds of gold. 
These five gilded domes seen in the evening as- 
sume fantastic colors, gold, bronze, green and of the 
color of fire. 

The Greek church of Russia has three Metropol- 
itans, or Bishops, whose sees are old Kief, Moscow, 
and St. Petersburg. These high priests are very 
rich. The whole system of worship in the Greek 
church, with its processions of banners, pictured 
saints and relics, has so impressed the rude people 
with holy awe that the Czar and church seem 
identical. In fact the Czar is the head of the Greek 
Church. Genuine piety is evident among rich and 
poor who make frequent pilgrimages. Gifts and 
alms are liberally bestowed. Shrines of the Virgin 
are everywhere, and people in passing are constantly 
making signs of the cross. The worst feature of 
the Greek Church is the one hundred fast days, 
which lead to idleness and drunkenness. The 
Russian Church is antagonistic to Romanism. It 
does not recognize the Pope, rejects purgatory, and 



1 88 TRAVELS. 

all massive images of Christ or saints as idolatrous, 
though pictures, mosaics and bas-reliefs on flat 
surfaces are used. The white clergy must marry, 
the black clergy must not. Immense sums are 
paid to be buried in holy ground. 

The Imperial Library, supported by government, 
one of the richest in Europe, contains more than 
a million printed volumes, over 25,000 manuscripts, 
and the finest collection of Hebrew manuscripts in 
the world. The most interesting is that discovered 
by Tischendorf in a monastery, and probably 
written in the fourth century. Russia is proud of 
her authors. Kriloff is the Esop of Russia, and is 
widely read by the people, especially by the 
children. 

The Column of Alexander I. is one of the great- 
est monoliths of modern times. It is a single shaft 
of red polished granite, 84 feet high. The total 
height of the monument is 154 feet. Captured 
Turkish cannon were melted for the capital. The 
inscription is, '' To Alexander, grateful Russia." 
Alexander I., grandson of Catharine the Great, in 
1801 came to the throne at the age of twenty-four. 
Jointly with Austria and England he fought Na- 
poleon in 1805. Three years later he was in alliance 
with France. In 181 2 he joined a new coalition 
against Napoleon. After Napoleon's awful defeat 
at Moscow, Alexander with other monarchs marched 
into Paris at the head of his troops. He was uni- 
versally beloved, both in Russia and in other 
countries, for his kindness, moderation, and liberal- 



TRAVELS. 189 

ity in his early reign. But overworked, he became 
despondent, conservative, and retracted most of the 
reforms which he had begun. His lust for power 
became a disease, and he strove for gigantic impos- 
sibilities. On December i, 1825, Alexander I. 
died in the arms of Empress Elizabeth. 

Kazan Cathedral built in imitation of St. Peter's, 
is named after the Virgin Mary. Her miraculous 
image, 300 years old, is covered with gold and 
precious stones, and is valued at $100,000. 
Soldiers guard it all the time, lest the faithful steal 
rather than worship. The Imperial Family Avorship 
here, occupying a purple velvet throne. The tomb 
of patriotic General Kutuzoff is pointed out ; he 
was buried on the very spot where he went to pray 
before setting out to meet Napoleon in 1812, After 
Napoleon's fatal defeat at Moscow, he tried to 
negotiate with Kutuzoff, the commander of the 
Russian army. His reply was, " Not so long as a 
foreigner remains on the Russian frontier." Na- 
poleon requested that Kutuzoff should send his let- 
ter to Alexander I. '' I will do that provided the 
word peace is not in the letter." To Napoleon's 
third proposition the heroic and fearless Kutuzoff 
replied, that this was not the time to entertain an 
armistice, as the Russian army was about to open 
the campaign. The discomfited Napoleon ceased 
his correspondence. 

Not until one enters the churches of Russia can 
the wealth and gorgeousness of the Empire be 
fully understood. The walls and floors are of 



190 TRAVELS. 

polished marble. Paintings decked with costly 
jewels are at the various shrines. There is much of 
gilding and stained glass everywhere. Beautiful 
green malachite columns and pillars of blue lapis 
lazuli form the screen, and the Royal Door is of 
bronze. No woman, not even the Empress, must 
profane by her presence the innermost sanctuary, 
where the priest is. The priests are dressed in 
robes of red velvet embroidered with gold, at great 
expense. The singing is very effective. Boys take 
soprano parts, and the best voices are everywhere 
sought and liberally remunerated. There are no 
seats in the Greek Church and all the people stand 
through the long service, often bowing almost to 
the floor, while rich and poor together buy wax 
candles, because they believe flame expresses the 
continued life of the soul. The forms prescribed 
are even more ceremonious than those in the 
Roman Catholic Church, of which the Greek Church 
is an off-shoot. 

Alexander II. was the son of the haughty Nicho- 
las I. and nephew of Emperor William of Germany. 
He came to the throne in 1855. His father's dying 
words were, " My son, serve your country, you will 
find the way difficult." And so it proved. After 
the bloody Crimean War, begun under Nicholas I. 
was ended, Alexander turned his mind toward re- 
forms, and became the idol of the people. Six 
years after he came to the throne, in 1861, he 
liberated 24,000,000 serfs, a measure long contem- 
plated by Nicholas I. and his predecessors, but a 



TRAVELS. 191 

grand act for which nobody previously had the 
courage. These serfs belonged to the owners of 
the land, and were bought and sold with it. They 
could be separated from their families, whipped, 
sent to war, or to Siberia. A prince made at one 
time a present of 4,000 serfs to another. It was 
actual slavery. By the edict of Alexander II., the 
government bought the land of the proprietors, 
who were mostly nobles, paying four-fifths of the 
value, while the peasants attempted to pay one-fifth 
of the price to the owners, and six per cent, for 
forty-nine years on the money advanced by govern- 
ment. The authority of the master was replaced 
by that of the commune, with a village elder or 
head, and an assembly. The land is redistributed 
periodically, so that each able-bodied peasant has a 
share sufficient to maintain him. In the commune 
the family cannot be deprived of its house and 
necessary agricultural implements, nor the com- 
mune of its land by importunate creditors. The 
commune is liable for taxes and debts. If a peas- 
ant becomes a drunkard, all can complain to the 
head, because all the families are responsible for 
his taxes. No peasant can permanently leave the 
commune without its consent. While the execu- 
tion of the plan has met with obstacles, usually 
from the aristocracy, the results have been most 
encouraging. The peasantry now own several hun- 
dred million acres, being the largest land owners 
next to the Crown. Women do not have a high 
place in the peasant mind. A proverb says, 



192 TRAVELS. 

" Woman's hair is long, but her mind is short.** 
Among the higher classes, women attend college 
the same as the men. 

As Alexander II. grew older he became less 
liberal, and began to control the press. Among 
the educated especially, a band of Nihilists was 
developed who asked for free speech, a free press 
and political representation under a constitution. 
These things the Czar positively declined to give, 
and as a result the taking of his life was three times 
attempted. The last time a bomb was successfully 
exploded under his carriage, and he died in the 
Winter Palace on March 13, 1881. His funeral was 
of royal magnificence. A long line of officers bore 
on colored cushions the gifts of foreign monarchs. 
In advance of the procession a knight rode clad 
in golden armor to symbolize the brightness and 
purity of the reign of Alexander II. His bier was 
of ebony and silver, covered with a gold canopy, 
which was held by sixteen high officials, his son, 
Alexander III. walking behind the casket. 

St. Petersburg has five large theatres, and the 
upper classes are fond of the opera and balls. 
Sunday afternoon and evening are much given to 
theatre going, after their devout worship in the 
morning. Masked balls are given on a large scale. 
Large sums are devoted yearly by the government 
to the cultivation of the drama, and a school is 
maintained for the education of actresses and ballet 
dancers. Usually the ground work of a Russian 
comedy is the vices of the official systern, which 



TRAVELS. 193 

leprosy has spread over the whole body and seems 
incurable. 

Alexander III. was ambitious to be Emperor 
also of Asia. He was a trained soldier, bearing 
scars of the Turkish War, and a man of remarkable 
physique. The story is told of him that, when 
crown prince, as a joke he would leave when call- 
ing, instead of his card, a silver ruble twisted by his 
fingers. Alexander III. was crowned at Moscow, 
May 27, 1882, with great splendor. He entered 
the city on a white charger, in advance of his 
generals and the State carriages, amid the firing of 
seventy-one guns, and the deafening cheers of hun- 
dreds of thousands. Receiving the iron crown 
from the hand of the Metropolitan, imitating Napo- 
leon I. he placed it upon his own head, being 
anointed with holy oil, and then he crowned his 
lovely wife, Dagmar. Great hopes were entertained 
by the Russians and by the world that he would 
grant to his people a constitution, but he did not 
attempt it, and consequently his life was also several 
times attempted. He spent much time at his sum- 
mer Palace at Gatchina, near St. Petersburg, an 
elegant home purchased by Catharine the Great for 
her son Paul. The grounds are extensive, with 
large kennels for packs of hounds, of which he was 
very fond. He was an early riser, gave much time 
to the gymnasium, and was a man of strong will 
and temper. His yearly income was ten million 
dollars from his personal estate alone. Alexander 
III. died in Southern Russia while yet a young 



194 TRAVELS. 

Emperor, and was buried with the giant Romanoffs 
in the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul within 
the fortress at St. Petersburg. 

Dagmar was the betrothed of Nicholas, eldest 
son of Alexander II., an accomplished and able 
prince, who at twenty-one on his deathbed at Nice 
exacted a promise from Dagmar that she would 
marry his brother Alexander III. Dagmar is slight 
in form, a great walker and reader, and is said to be 
one of the best informed women in European poli- 
tics. While fond of social life, she is also devoted 
to charities. Her four children are Nicholas II., 
George, Xenia and Michael. She is ardently loved 
by the Russians, and like the Princess of Wales 
was the strongest factor in her husband's popular- 
ity. Dagmar lives to see her son Nicholas II. 
ascend the throne. 



CHAPTER XL 

The 400 Mile Ride to Moscow. Russian Villages and 
Peasants. The Red Gate. The Russian Head and Heart. 
Petrofski Palace. Coronation of a Czar. Grandeur within 
the Famous Kremlin. St. George's Hall. Russia 1,000 Years 
Old. The King of Bells. The Czar's Cannon. Napoleon 
Reaches Russia. Burning of Moscow. St. Saviour's Church 
A Memorial. St. Basil. Interesting Foundling Asylum. 
Russian Fairs, Count Tolstoi and Nicholas II. Founder of 
the House of Romanoffs. A Map of Russia. The Dream of 
every Russian. A famous Englishman's Opinion. An Intri- 
cate Problem. Odessa. Exportation of Wheat, and Russians. 
Peter's famous Will and Russia's Aim. 

The journey of the four hundred miles from St. 
Petersburg southeast to Moscow is about fifteen 
hours by railway. The line is straight, the country 
being flat and monotonous, and is diversified by a 
few small villages, set in extensive forests of birch, 
elm, fir, lime, oak and sycamore. There is a say- 
ing, that a squirrel could make this whole journey 
without lighting on the ground. The houses of the 
peasant class are usually built of pine or fir logs, 
with projecting roof. North of Moscow they have 
picturesque balconies often adorned with beautiful 
carved wood, and the houses are often thatched 
with straw. If color is used, a dingy yellow, or dull 
reddish brown, is preferred. In some localities the 



196 TRAVELS. 

shingles are painted red and the walls green. The 
common dwelling is often raised ten feet above the 
ground, and is approached from the outside by a 
covered stair-case. The space below is used as a 
fowl-house or cow-shed. Often there are seen three 
little glazed windows in the gable, and in the 
gable is the small room devoted to the young maid- 
ens, so often mentioned in the popular songs of 
Russia. In the springtime the Russian maidens, 
hand in hand, sing and dance in the streets of the 
villages, and are met by young men dancing for- 
ward in file, from the opposite side of the squares. 
These simple hearted people have songs for &w^xy 
season, and in unfavorable weather celebrate their 
festivals in each other's houses. Opposite the 
entrance door usually hangs the Icon or family 
Titulary-Saint. On cold nights many families 
sleep on top of immense brick stoves, the tempera- 
ture being carefully temperedo 

Chay ! Chay! shouts the uncouth Russian at 
every station. Chay, or hot tea, is served from a 
brass urn in glasses, with a slice of lemon on the 
surface. The Russians are great tea drinkers. The 
poor use a home-grown herb, the rich the choicest 
brands brought overland from China. Another 
popular drink is Vodka, a species of coarse gin 
distilled from rye, or potatoes. The ordinary diet 
of the peasant is black bread, buckwheat porridge 
with onions, and soup of fermented cabbage. 

In winter the Muzhik wears a black fur cap and 
sheep-skin clothes, the wool next the body, bound 



TRAVELS. 197 

at the waist with red scarf or rope. In summer he 
wears blue and pink shirts loose about the body, 
with shoes of basket-slits fastened criss-cross to the 
knees with strings. 

We reached Moscow at 10:15 a. m. on November 
2, and obtained rooms at the Hotel Billo. 

The Red Gate of Moscow is approached on the 
way from the Nicholas railway depot. It was 
erected by the merchants of the city, when Eliza- 
beth the daughter of Peter the Great, was crowned. 
At the coronation of Paul, the son of Catharine the 
Great, food and drink were spread for the people 
all the way from the Red Gate to the Kremlin, 

Moscow is situated in the center of the Empire in 
Europe and is called the heart of Russia, while St. 
Petersburg is the head. Here center Russian ideas, 
Russian faith and a net-work of railways. The 
city has a mixture of great palaces, and little 
yellow houses, nearly all of wood, with 300 or more 
churches on irregular streets. Many iron roofs are 
painted green, and many domes are gilded. The 
whole scene when glittering in the sunlight is one 
of unequaled splendor. Moscow has a population 
of over 600,000, and is often called the *' Manches- 
ter of Russia." 

In the suburbs is Petrofski Palace, with attractive 
gardens and parks. In the park cafes gypsies, of- 
ten in jeweled dresses, sing with fine effect. Here 
grand reviews of Russian soldiers take place, and 
here, when the Kremlin in 1812 was burning. 
Napoleon retired. 



19^ TRAVELS. 

On May 22, 1885, the firing of artillery, precisely 
at noon, was the signal for Czar Alexander III. to 
leave this palace for the Kremlin where he was to 
be crownedo Thousands had sat up all night to 
secure available seats for observing the Royal proces- 
sion. Tens of thousands thronged the streets. 
Balconies, Venetian masts, spires and domes dis- 
played countless Russian colors. The gorgeous 
procession was a strange mixture of Oriental splen- 
dor with Western refinement. At the head of the 
procession appeared the Police of Moscow in force, 
next squadrons of Cossack and Chevalier Guards, 
followed by Asiatic, Russian and Western deputa- 
tions, and State carriages filled with Duchesses and 
Princesses. All approached the Redeemer's Gate, 
one of several entrances to the Kremlin. The 
Czar, in handsome uniform, rode a splendid white 
horse, in advance of four generals of the army. 
Mounted members of the Imperial Family, and 
grand Dukes, formed a brilliant group. Wild 
enthusiasm greeted the Czar at every turn. Pages 
and grooms followed a State carriage drawn by 
eight cream-colored horses in which rode Empress 
Dagmar, and her little daughter Xenia, who threw 
kisses to the people, and they in turn, with uncov- 
ered heads bowed, and so returned their most loyal 
greetings. Their Majesties were received by the 
Archbishop with cross and holy water at the steps 
of the Cathedral of the Assumption, within the 
walls of the Kremlin. Gilding adorns the interior 
walls, and rich frescoes the five domes. In the 



TRAVELS. 199 

holy temple beneath, made beautiful with the most 
sacred pictures of Russia, are buried many of the 
Archbishops of the Greek Church. Jewels adorn 
the single picture of the Holy Virgin of Vladimir. 
Behind the altar screen stands Mount Sinai of gold. 

At the crowning the Czar recites the confession 
of faith, offers up prayer for the Empire, crowns 
himself, and enters the innermost sanctuary for 
bread and wine. The climax is reached when the 
Czar in resplendent robes of State proceeds down 
the nave to receive the anointment of sacred oil, 
which confirms his ecclesiastical power, making him 
both Emperor, and Patriarch of all the Russians. 

In St. Michael's Cathedral are the tombs of Rus- 
sia's sovereigns down to the time of Peter the 
Great. The white embattled walls of the old 
Kremlin, with five gates and eighteen towers, 
enclose within a triangular space four Cathedrals 
and thirty-two churches. 

The Palace of St. Nicholas within the Kremlin, 
was built by Nicholas on the spot where the an- 
cient Czars lived. The apartments are very richly 
hung in red and blue satin. Here is the gold court, 
where the Metropolitans are installed, and the red 
staircase, where many persons have been killed. In 
the Treasury is shown the captured thrones of 
Poland and Persia, brilliant with diamonds and 
rubies, also a double throne with a hole in the back, 
that the Czar might be prompted on State occasions. 

St. George's Hall was founded by Catharine II. 
and dedicated to the military Order of St. George. 



200 TRA VELS. 

It is 200 feet in length, and on the walls, in letters 
of gold, are inscribed the names of soldiers who 
have been decorated. The furniture is orange and 
black, and 3000 candles burn in the chandeliers. 
St.. George on a white horse forms the arms of Mos- 
cow and Russia. St. George is popular in Russia, 
owing to his supposed influence over wolves and 
serpents. The Russian peasant will not turn his 
cattle out to graze before the twenty-third of April, 
the day dedicated to St. George. 

In 1862 a huge globe on a circular stone pedestal, 
around which cluster historical figures, was erected 
in the center of the Kremlin, or citadel, of Novgo- 
rod in Northwestern Russia to commemorate Rus- 
sia's thousandth birthday. In 862 the Slavonian 
Clans quarreled, and to promote order they sent a 
commission to a tribe called Rus, beyond the sea, 
to say, '* Our land is great and fruitful, come and 
reign over us." The invitation was accepted by 
three brothers from the tribe of Rus. Hence the 
name of Russia. These three men were Normans 
from Scandinavia, it is thought, and they became 
in a certain sense founders of the Russian Empire. 
Ruric survived his brothers and ruled over the prin- 
cipal towns of the Novgorod district near the Baltic 
Sea. From this dates the rapid expansion of the 
Russo-Slavonians. The supreme power resided in 
the Assembly of Citizens, called together in the 
market place by a bell. The people had a proverb, 
" If a prince is bad, into the mud he goes." 
Though thirty abdications took place in a century, 



TRAVELS. 201 

yet the Republic of Novgorod, under the descen- 
dants of Ruric, gaining in strength and riches, 
became an outpost of the Hanseatic League, and 
during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries 
proudly styled itself " Lord Novgorod the Great." 
In 1570 the soldiers of Ivan the Terrible came here 
and butchered 60,000 citizens. This tragic scene 
closed the history of Novgorod, as an independent 
state. Increased power now centered in Moscow, a 
vigorous state ruled by crafty princes, who were 
freeing the country from the Tartar yoke. 

A flight of steps at the end of the hall of St. 
Vladimir is called " the Red Staircase" where Ivan 
IV. transfixed with his pointed staff the foot of a 
trusted messenger of an enemy. The dynasty of 
Ruric reached its zenith of power in the person of 
Ivan the Terrible, who became distinguished in his- 
tory. Ivan was left an orphan, and was highly 
gifted. He resembled Peter the Great. His nobles 
or guardians were lawless, and Ivan early learned to 
be cruel to all who were cruel to him. He had the 
chief of the aristocracy torn to pieces by dogs as an 
example. He killed his own son, and slew many 
high born citizens in Novgorod and elsewhere. 
For three centuries the Tartars had overwhelmed 
Eastern and Southern Russia, but Ivan assumed 
the title of Czar, captured Kazan and Astrakhan, 
drove back the Tartar hordes and in 1462 forced a 
place for Russia amongst the nations. Like Henry 
VIII. Ivan had many wives. By his marriage with 
the Royal House of Greece, and adoption of the 



202 TRA VELS, 

double-headed eagle, the well-known emblem of 
Grecian power, he established a prima facie claim 
for himself and descendants as the rightful succes- 
sors of the old Greek Emperors to the coveted 
city of Constantine with its gilded minarets. Ivan 
sleeps in a pine cofifin covered with red cloth in St. 
Michael's Church within the Kremlin. He pro- 
tected printing, read and thought much, and if cruel 
at times, he was humorous and humane. 

At the foot of the Tower of Ivan the Terrible 
stands the King of Bells. It was cast in 1733 by 
command of Empress Anne. The bell is twenty- 
six feet, four inches in height, sixty-seven feet in 
circumferance, two feet thick, and weighs 222 tons. 
On its surface are figures in relief of Czar Alexis, of 
Empress Anne, the Saviour, the Holy Virgin, and 
the Evangelists. 

Hundreds of bells hang in the Tower of Ivan, and 
in the Churches of Moscow, some of silver, and very 
sweet toned. On Easter morn when all the bells 
of Moscow ring out the whole Empire seems glad 
that a Saviour has risen. 

Near the Great Bell is the Czar's Cannon. This 
historic gun weighs forty tons and was cast 30D 
years ago. When Peter ordered the church bells 
to be recast for his wars, he spared this huge bell by 
a special decree. Near the arsenal are piled about 
900 cannons, largely captured from Napoleon. His 
campaign against Russia was begun because Alex- 
ander prohibited the importation of French goods, 
and would not join in a war against England. 



TRA VELS. 203 

Napoleon's army of 500,000 soldiers was half 
French, and half foreign allies. " An army of 
twenty nations," say the Russians. History can 
never record a tithe of its bravery and sufferings in 
the march of 2000 miles to Moscow. The Russian 
army defeated at Borodino retired east through 
Moscow, its wise commander Kutuzoff, weeping for 
the fate of the '' Holy Mother Moscow." This 
city, with its ecclesiastical treasures, was the idol 
of the Greek Church and her people. On Sep- 
tember 14, 1 8 12, the French army 100,000 strong 
caught sight of the glittering domes of Moscow. 
Napoleon, standing on Sparrow Hill, said to his 
troops, *' All this is yours." Then the whole army 
shouted '^ Moscow ! Moscow ! " and it entered the 
city singing the Marseillaise. Napoleon rode for- 
ward to the Palace of the Czars within the Kremlin. 
Thrice he had sent letters proposing peace to Alex- 
ander, but no answer came. A legend relates that 
Napoleon stood on Ivan's Tower looking towards 
the rich convent of St. Sergius when suddenly he 
saw a white-bearded man, with cross in his hand, 
come out of the Monastery, and behind him in the 
clouds swept forward a mysterious army, a vast 
array of the dead heroes of Russia advancing to 
defend their beloved land. Napoleon, in affright, 
covered his eyes, and when again he looked, the 
noble city of Moscow was in flames. Napoleon 
then fled in safety to Petrofski Palace. Immense 
volumes of smoke, pierced with flames, rolled up- 
ward to the skies. Soon loud explosions, and then 



204 TRA VELS. 

scores of buildings were thrown into the air. The 
fire spread rapidly, and soon the whole city was 
wrapt in a fierce ocean of flames. Multitudes, en- 
circled by fire in narrow streets, were burned. 
French soldiers bayoneted the incendiaries, and 
tossed them into the seething flames. Finally 
Napoleon, excessively agitated, said, ** What a 
frightful sight, the most sublime the world ever 
beheld. The burning of Troy could not have 
equaled the destruction of Moscow." Four-fifths 
of the buildings were burnt. Relentless winter was 
now approaching, and no food or shelter remained 
for the army. Therefore Napoleon ordered that 
fatal retreat. Now had come Kutuzoff's chance, 
and battle after battle was fought, and the Russian 
army was triumphant at last. His ally was the 
frost of winter. Thousands of French soldiers, 
with little to wear or to eat, perished. Half starved 
troops fought for carcases of dead horses. Frozen 
and dying soldiers lined the roadsides, and choked 
the streams. Napoleon finally hastened back to 
France to raise another army. Of the half miUion 
soldiers who started out to conquer Russia, only 
40,000 returned to recount the greatest military de- 
feat in history. 

Outside the Kremlin stands the Cathedral of St. 
Saviour, which was erected as a memorial of the de- 
liverance of Russia from Napoleon Bonaparte in 
1812. Alexander decreed that the Church should 
be built, and the style is Graeco-Byzantine. The 
building is granite and faced with marble. A 



TRA VELS. 205 

striking feature of this beautiful church is the five 
copper cupolas the gilding of which cost nearly 
$1,000,000. 900 pounds of gold were used. Gilded 
crosses surmount all the domes. The bronze 
doors are ornamented with Biblical subjects. The 
floor, 220 feet square, and the walls, are lined with 
exquisite varieties of marble. Rich frescoes illus- 
trate events in the history of the Russian Church, 
and great paintings commemorate the battles of 
1812 with Napoleon. The cupola is 230 feet high, 
and is surrounded with two rows of 1240 candel- 
abra, containing 3,000 candles. In the immense 
vaulting are colossal paintings of the Apostles, 
Fathers, and blessed Trinity. The altar alone cost 
$150,000, the whole church costing $12,000,000. 
Within, 10,000 worshipers can comfortably worship, 
if their souls permit. 

The invasion of the French in 1812 also vividly 
reminded the Russians of the events of 1612, when 
the patriotism of the people freed their country 
from hostile Poles and Swedes. In 161 3 the 
Church of St. Basil was built over the remains of 
Basil, a worker of miracles, who in the language of 
the Church was '' Idiotic for Christ's sake." It is 
grotesquely irregular and has eleven domes, all of 
difficult designs and colors, which surmount as many 
chapels dedicated to various saints. Within are 
shown the relics of another saint, John the Idiot, 
who seems to have been a beggar, probably like the 
present beggars, so highly esteemed in Russia. 
The architect was an Italian, and tradition reports 



2o6 TRAVELS. 

that Ivan the Terrible had his eyes put out, that 
he might never make another church so beautiful. 
The exhibition of the Icon or picture of the 
mother of God sometimes nets $50,000 annually 
from its worshipers, of which the sum $35,000 is 
used to pay the Metropolitan. Frequently the 
Icon is conveyed with much formality to houses of 
the wealthy to aid in restoring the sick to health. 

The Sheremetief Foundling Hospital is visited 
by most tourists. It bears the name of a great 
family, friends of Catharine II. They used to 
entertain 2,000 guests at a time in their mansion. 
Both Moscow and St. Petersburg have similar 
hospitals supported by the State ; and the system 
is so perfect that it is carefully studied by other 
countries. Foundling Asylums in Moscow and 
St. Petersburg are the largest and finest in the 
world. They were founded by Catharine the Great 
in 1772. These Hospitals have an annual revenue 
from the government, and private sources of over 
$5,000,000. When a new babe is brought in, a cord 
is fastened about its neck, with a number on it, and 
a similar number is given to its cot and to the 
mother, that she may come and visit it, or claim it 
at any time before it is ten years old. Each nurse 
has the care of two babies, and the nurse receives 
her board and eighteen cents a day. All the chil- 
dren are educated, the boys entering the service of 
the State, and the girls becoming nurses, teachers, 
etc. About 25,000 foundlings are annually received 
at these Foundling Asylums. 



TRA VELS. 207 

The bazaars of Moscow are interesting. Russian 
household linen very finely embroidered is much 
sought after. In Russia many fairs are annually 
held for the sale of goods. In July and August the 
Grand Fair is held, at Nijni Novgorod, 265 miles 
southeast of Moscow in the angle of the Volga and 
Oka Rivers. In the valley when the Fair is in 
progress are miles of streets of tents, booths and 
shops, filled with merchandise from all countries. 
Here sellers and buyers from Asia and Central 
Europe meet. Sometimes 300,000 persons attend ; 
their dress and individual characteristics are often 
very amusing. In sight are long piles of Siberian 
iron, malachite and lapis lazuli, jewelry and silks 
from Persia, teas of delicious fragrance from China, 
ivory, skins and furs from the Arctic Circle. The 
sales amount to $100,000,000. In the future the 
railways, however, will change all this. 

Count Tolstoi, whom Howells calls the greatest 
living novelist, is a resident of Moscow. He is a 
man of the highest social position, and possibly 
worth 600,000 rubles, yet living in the greatest 
simplicity, working at his summer home, in the 
fields like a peasant, and helping his peasant neigh- 
bors with the labor of his hands. In the evening 
he makes shoes, and teaches trades to others. His 
books in many volumes are sold by the tens of 
thousands, and his Tracts for the People have had 
an enormous sale. Anna Karenina, his famous 
novel, is a tragic picture of Russian life. In later 
years My Religion and Confessions show his change 



208 TRA VELS. 

of religious views to the teachings of Christ, but 
his books are largely forbidden to be read in Russia. 
He believes in living solely for others, and would 
probably carry out his ideas, save that his family 
do not altogether share his views of abnegation, 
preferring to enjoy wealth and the fame which the 
great author has rightly earned. In January, 1899, 
at Toola in Central Russia, Emperor Nicholas II. 
sent a message expressing his desire to see Count 
Leo Tolstoi, who accepted the invitation and ap- 
peared at the railway station in his peasant garb. 
Emperor Nicholas kissed him on the mouth and 
both cheeks, Tolstoi readily responding. The Czar 
asked his guest for an opinion upon the proposal 
for the limitation of armaments. Count Tolstoi 
replied that he could only believe it when the Czar 
should set the example to other nations. 

Mikhail Romanoff is the ancestor of the present 
reigning Romanoff House of Russia. He was 
unanimously chosen to fill the vacant throne by a 
great National Assemby held at Moscow in 1613, 
the dynasty of Ruric having ended with the death 
of Ivan the Terrible. The restored birthplace of 
Mikhail is shown in Moscow. It is a three-story 
stone house, and to-day is used as a Museum of 
Ancient Art. The clergy and people nobly sup- 
ported their newly elected Czar, trade everywhere 
revived, and Russia has since greatly prospered un- 
der the Romanoffs. Mikhail and his son Alexis, 
Father of Peter the Great, are buried in the Krem- 
lin, while most of the Romanoff Family are buried 



TRA VELS. 209 

in St. Petersburg, Russia's new Capital on the 
Baltic. 

A map of Russia in Europe discloses a coast line 
about one-third of Western Europe. The Baltic, 
White, Black and Caspian Seas mark well the 
corner boundaries of the Empire in Europe. 
Mountains girdle an immense plain which is pene- 
trated by a great system of navigable streams. 
The Neva and Volga Rivers are to Russia about 
what the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi Rivers 
are to America. Three zones of production cross 
the Empire from the northeast to the southwest, 
The north third is a zone of resinous and other 
trees. Across Central Russia extends a second 
zone of deep fertile mould, about the size of 
France, which is called Black Lands. On these 
lands large quantities of the finest wheat are 
raised. Southern Russia forms the third zone, 
which includes extensive arable and barren 
steppes, not unlike the Dakotas and the American 
prairies. 

The late Mr. Walter of the London Times once 
said that " the two great Nations of the future were 
America and Russia." Russia is a country of con- 
stant geographical expansion. The Czar rules the 
eastern half of Europe and one-third of Asia. His 
territory sweeps in unbroken continuity half round 
the globe. \\\ attempting to connect the more 
civilized portions of Western Russia with Siberia 
and Eastern Russia, by a railway built through 
East Siberia and Manchuria to Port Arthur, the 



210 TRAVELS. 

Government has shown most commendable courage 
and wisdom in a gigantic enterprise. 

The Flag of Russia, a red, white and blue, signify- 
ing not liberty, but despotism, floats over one- 
seventh of the earth's surface. The Czar's Empire 
in Europe is about two-thirds the size of the 
United States, and his possessions in Asia are thirty 
times the size of England ; Russia has absorbed 
eieht distinct nationalities. To unite elements so 
unlike into an harmonious whole has been the 
intricate problem for each successive sovereign of 
Russia to solve. 

We left Moscow on the noon (12:30) express for 
Odessa. The journey from Moscow via Kief to 
Odessa is about iioo miles, and costs about forty- 
four rubles. Odessa is a city of about 200,000 
population, on the northwestern coast of the Black 
Sea, and was founded by Catharine II. The city is 
built on a broad plateau, 80 feet above the sea, and 
is strongly fortified. Steps loo feet wide lead up 
from the lower quay or sea to a magnificent ter- 
race lined with palatial mansions and stately hotels. 
The streets of Odessa are well paved and planted 
with acacia trees. Here the morning is devoted 
to business, the heated middle hours to repose. 
At dark all the clubs and cafes are crowded. Here 
are seen the money-changers of the East, with their 
little green tables along the curbstones. Curbstone 
brokers indeed! We exchanged English gold at 
one of these tables with a woman who was one of 
Odessa's wealthiest bankers. Here are Armenian, 



TRA VELS. 2 1 1 

Jewish and Turkish merchants, and here come 
annually hundreds of vessels, many being British 
vessels, for the finest wheat raised in the world. 

Thousands of emigrants annually leave Odessa for 
other countries. Often the scenes are pathetic. 
They take beds and bundles of clothing, a tin cup 
to drink out of, and usually rough boxes filled with 
their household goods and gods, and things needed 
in the long journey, perhaps of 5,000 miles or more 
to America and the Great West. 

Czar Nicholas II. married Queen Victoria's favor- 
ite grand-daughter. Princess Alix of Hesse-Darm- 
stadt. She is bending every effort toward the 
higher civilization of Russia, while Nicholas hopes 
to make the Russian Empire the most powerful 
political and military country in the world. Every 
year about 280,000 conscripts are added to the 
Russian army. In times of peace it numbers 
1,000,000 men, and is the largest standing army in 
existence. In the event of his death, his eldest 
brother George, a man of many accomplishments, 
v/ould be heir to the Russian throne, for the 
children of Czar Nicholas II. are all girls. The 
eldest of these, the little Grand Duchess Olga, is 
the object of much Russian affection. Nicholas 
II. Czar of Russia, and George, Duke of York, who 
may be king of Great Britain and Ireland, are two 
royal first cousins. They are fond of each other, 
and look much alike. 

The young Czar Nicholas II. is much alive to the 
wish expressed in Peter the Great's remarkable 
will, a voice which leads Russia on to destruction, 



212 TRAVELS. 

or to the highest pinnacle of power in Europe. 
The task bequeathed by Peter to his successors is 
to subjugate Central Asia and India and to make 
Constantinople the capital of the Muscovite Em- 
pire. For over a century this has been the dream 
of every Russian. The weapon with which Russia 
expects to achieve this tremendous task is her 
gigantic army, which in times of war numbers 
4,000,000 of well trained soldiers, half regulars, half 
militia. Russian subjects are each liable to at 
least twenty years of military service. The Rus- 
sian soldier under fire is steady, and he obeys with 
blind instinct, and enjoys a simple faith that God 
and the Czar are one. The brave Cossacks, the 
Russian Highlanders, in battle always perform deeds 
of daring. The Emperor's Guards, of 60,000 tall 
men of fine physique, inspire the army as they 
march, and they sing : 

The Turks and the Swedes know us well, 
The whole world has witnessed our power; 

'Tis the white Czar who leads us — alike 
In the flight or in victory's hour. 

Huzzah, brethren, huzzah, 

Whither he leads we'll follow the Czar. 

Catharine the Great wrote on one of the gates to 
Moscow, ''The Way to Constantinople,'* expecting 
in her time to make this beautiful city her own 
capital. For this reason she named her grandson 
Constantine. 

On November 8th we took boat and steamed 
across the Black Sea to the " Cradle of Nations," 
a distance of about three hundred miles. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Breakfast on the Black Sea. The Bosporus Bristles with 
Guns. Robert College. Scenes on the Bosporus. " The 
Cradle of Nations. " Caiques, and Turkish porters. Nameless 
Dogs. The " Minaret " Gate. Home of Embassadors. The 
Golden Horn. Dark Cypresses. " By Water Everything 
Lives." Turkish Women at the Sweet Water. Turks are 
Tartars. The Fire Towers. Crowded Bazaars. Aqueduct of 
Valens. A Turk's Ideal Heaven. Whirling Dervishes. 
Mosques and Minarets. The Muezzin. Historic St. Sophia. 
Abdul Hamid H. The Sultan's Palace. Circassian Beauties. 
Hospitality in the Harem. Florence Nightingale. 

We left the Odessa wharf at eight o'clock on 
Saturday morning on a French steamer for Con- 
stantinople, about 200 miles south. The fare was 
one hundred francs. 

Breakfast was served at nine-thirty with eight 
courses, as follows : 



Bologna sausage with radishes and bread. 

Russian Fish. 

Fresh water crabs. 

Ham with omelette. 

Beefsteak and bacon. 

Crackers and cheese. 

Apples, grapes, English walnuts, etc. 

Black coffee. 



214 TRAVELS, 

The officers and passengers had wine, if desired. 

The 8th of November, 1888, was a perfect day, 
and the waters of the historic Pontus Euxinus 
were as smooth as a mirror. The Black Sea, like 
most large bodies of water, is liable to frequent 
storms, and mindful of the destruction of British 
vessels in the Crimean War, we had our fears of black 
clouds and waves. The Black Sea is a great inland 
lake between Europe and Asia, about lOOO miles long 
and 380 miles in width. It is possibly lOOO feet 
in depth. About one third of the running waters 
of Europe, including a dozen large rivers, flow into 
this great sea. It has no tide, one seventh less salt 
than the ocean, and suffers great evaporation, for 
much less water passes out the Bosporus than is 
received. 

It was one o'clock p. m. on the ninth when we 
sighted the several islands and rocks near the 
entrance of the Bosporus, or Strait of Constantino- 
ple, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of 
Marmora, a distance of seventeen miles. The 
entrance to the Bosporus bristles with Krupp can- 
nons. Here Europe and Asia join hands under the 
loveliest skies in the world. This unique waterway, 
which varies in width from half a mile to one and a 
quarter miles, was opened in 1829 to the merchant 
ships of all nations. The Turks west of the Bos- 
porus are a foreign enemy encamped in Europe. 
They believe in slavery and polygamy, twin relics 
of barbarism, and are alien in blood, language and 
religion. 



TRA VELS, 215 

The total area of Europe, held more or less under 
Turkish control since the Berlin Treaty, 1878, is 
about twice the size of New England, with a popu- 
lation of 10,000,000. Robert College, with nearly 
300 students, representing a score of nationalities, 
crowns the heights above the west shore of the 
Bosporus. 

Both shores are aglow with white marble palaces, 
gilded kiosks, villas and terraced gardens. There 
are six imperial residences on the European shore, 
and a dozen on the Asiatic, besides picturesque cliffs 
and streams. The scores of pretty villages on the 
Bosporus are hourly visited by swift tiny steamers, 
which are loaded with passengers who speak many 
languages. 

We approach Constantinople, " Cradle of Na- 
tions." Here Constantine lived in the fourth cen- 
tury after the reunion of the Roman Empire. We 
drop anchor at the entrance of the Golden Horn, 
and in full sight of Seraglio Point. The Turk's red 
flag with star and cresent, is flying from huge iron- 
clads, within a cable's length of the Sultan's Palace. 
Beyond are seven low hills crowned with cypress 
groves, clustered domes, lofty minarets, fantastic 
houses, and shattered walls that have often baffled 
the bravest soldiers. The Palace of the Seraglio, 
occupied by Royalty for fifteen centuries, is now 
used only on State occasions by the Sultan. A 
thousand caique boats dart here and there over 
the clear waters, with Turks and veiled women. 
Scores of boats surround our steamer, and we are 



2l6 TRAVELS. 

really puzzled to decide how we can safely reach 
the shore. Finally at the landing a Turkish porter 
takes our trunk, hat-box and umbrella to the hotel. 
We stumble over groups of lean, hungry, nameless 
dogs, whom nobody owns ; thousands of whom 
live on charity. Each dog has his own district, and 
a most rigid police is observed. Friday is the dogs, 
feast day, when charitable Turks give them meat 
and bread. In return, the dogs guard the streets 
by night. 

Formerly this Oriental City had twenty-eight 
gates, and many towers of defense, now mostly 
fallen, and they are overgrown with shrubs, trees and 
occasional flowers. Constantinople occupies a trian- 
gular promontory, washed on the north side by the 
Golden Horn, and on the south by the Sea of 
Marmora, while on the west triple, castellated walls 
of Constantinople, fourteen miles in length, connect 
the golden inlet, and the Sea. 

Extensive and beautiful views of Constantinople 
and varied waters are had from Galata Tower. An 
amphitheatre of cities is spread out before us. At 
our feet lies Galata, the largest suburb. The busi- 
ness quarter is a long street parallel with the 
Golden Horn. Here much business is done with 
the European nations. Pera, beyond, crowns the 
summit above Galata. Here- are the headquarters 
of diplomacy, the homes of the English and German 
Embassadors especially, which are elaborate affairs. 
Bridges of boats connect the shores of the Golden 
Horn whose banks are lined with masses of wooden 



TRAVELS. 217 

houses. These bridges are crowded with soldiers, 
dervishes, mules laden with barrels and boxes, and 
people of all nationalities. Lovely bits of color are 
discernible everywhere on the streets and bridges. 

The shores of the Golden Horn afford desirable 
quarters for the better class of residences. The 
form of this land-locked harbor suggests its name. 
It is a deep Inlet, half a mile wide at its mouth, and 
gradually curves north like a horn of plenty, to the 
sweet waters. The harbor is deep enough for the 
largest warships, and will float 1,500 vessels. 

The cemetery of Eyoob Is at the upper end of 
the Golden Horn, and takes its name from the 
standard bearer of Mohammed, who is buried here. 
Some of the tomb-houses of the Royal families are 
enclosed by mother-of-pearl railings. A turban, or 
fez, Is seen on the monuments of men ; a palm 
branch on those of women. Cypresses abound In all 
Turkish cemeteries, as It was formerly the custom 
to plant a tree at the birth, and another at the death 
of each member of the family. The Turks believe 
the soul to be In torment till the body is buried, 
hence persons are Interred quickly. It Is said that 
at death two angels ask the departed about his life 
here on earth, and he receives Heaven, or Purga- 
tory, according to his own account of himself. A 
foolish soul. Indeed, who does not answer dis- 
creetly. 

It is a beautiful drive up the Golden Horn to 
the Sweet Waters' Fountain, which is a fashionable 
resort. Fountains abound throughout the city, 



2 1 8 TRA VELS, 

some in public places erected by benevolent people, 
and others in the courts of mosques, which are used 
for purification before prayers. Water is to the 
Turk the symbol of the principle of life. '' By 
water everything lives," is from the Koran, and is 
inscribed generally upon their fountains. Even the 
tabooed Christian may behold the faces of the 
Turkish ladies as they drive to and from the Sweet 
Waters and elsewhere, though in wraps and misty 
veils of crape lisse, and so adjusted that enameled 
complexions and dark eyes possess a mysterious 
beauty. Their bonnets, made like Scotch caps, are 
of colored silks or satin, often adorned with jewels 
or tinsel ornaments. Diamonds or beads encircle 
their necks, and wide bracelets and costly rings 
their wrists and fingers. The ladies of the Harem 
are not held captives as some suppose, but they 
freely drive about with their Eunuchs or slaves, 
and are often seen in the bazaars purchasing em. 
broidered slippers, bags of musk, sandal wood, or 
sweet scented gums. 

The Turks came from Central Asia, and the 
name signifies Wanderers, and they are identical 
with the Tartars. They have round full faces, and 
jet black hair and eyes. Their dress is very pictur- 
esque. The men wear the red fez or cap with tassel, 
loose trousers, close fitting at the ankles and waist, 
with a jacket and scarf of tinsel ornamentation. 
You never see a drunken Turk. They are brave, 
they love children, are kind to animals, fond of 
gossip, and are always courteous. 



TRAVELS. 219 

Constantinople has three fine towers, similar to 
Serasker's Tower, which is one of the three from 
which extensive views are had of the city, the sea, 
and the Bosporus. On these lofty towers watchmen 
are stationed, and fires are indicated by hoisting 
flags and red balloons, or by firing cannons. Fast 
runners notify firemen, four of whom bear a box 
engine on their shoulders, and they run headlong, 
shouting '* Fire ! Fire ! " Soldiers with axes, and 
long hooked poles, tear down the buildings, and so 
try to assist in stopping the conflagration. A fire 
among the old wooden houses is terrible. In 
Stamboul, part of the city, twenty mosques were 
burned, in 1865, and 8,000 houses. On one occa- 
sion at least 50,000 houses were burned in a 
few hours. The streets of Constantinople are 
narrow, crooked, and poorly paved. The crowded 
bazaars are rows of shops grouped together and are 
miles in length. They may have suggested our 
modern Expositions, for the bazaars contain the 
world's varied productions ; Cashmere shawls, Chin- 
ese silks, Morocco leathers, Persian goods, amber 
mouth-pieces, diamonds, gold and ivory. The 
merchants, wearing fur-lined robe and white turban, 
drive their trades as they sit cross-legged among 
their goods, on faded carpets, or leopard skins. 
The varied colors, the strange costumes and 
languages, and novelties, perfectly bewilder the 
stranger. 

From the Fire Tower one sees the Aqueduct of 
Valens, which was begun by Hadrian, the Roman 



220 TRAVELS, 

Emperor, fifteen centuries ago. It is a picturesque 
ruin, with its forty Gothic arches, and is still used 
to convey water in pipes laid on the top. It was 
rebuilt by Sulieman, the Magnificent. At sunset 
in the fall, when the vine-covered arches are radiant 
with color, the ancient aqueduct is indeed a thing 
of beauty, and a joy forever, to man and beast that 
drink of its cool waters. 

The Arsenal and Admiralty are on the Bosporus, 
east of Galata. A single costly ironclad has been 
built here with imported iron, imported skilled 
labor, and borrowed money. Turkey has a fair 
navy, a dozen armor-clad ships, besides monitors, 
and gun-boats. Every Turkish subject, eighteen 
years old, must serve in some form for twenty 
years in the military. Every Turk believes he is a 
born soldier, and that if he dies while fighting for his 
country, he will go immediately to Heaven, where 
he will spend Eternity with fifty-two beautiful 
wives. No wonder the Turks are patriotic. New 
and approved army measures are expected to 
raise the Turkish forces to a million or more 
men. 

The Whirling Dervishes resembles brotherhoods 
of monks. Their devotions consist largely of 
prayers, and whirling or dancing to music. These 
people whirl with their eyes partly closed, mouths 
open, until intoxicated with visions of Heaven, or 
prostrated by nervous exhaustion, they fall to the 
floor. 

The mosques of Constantinople are many and 



TRAVELS. 221 

beautiful. Bayazid's Mosque, commanding a fine 
view of the Sea of Marmora, was built by the son 
of Mohammed II. and is elegant with its columns 
of porphyry and verd-antique. Here, every Friday, 
bread is given to dogs, and hundreds come from 
long distances. Crowds of pigeons also flock here, 
as at St. Mark's in Venice. Beneath Bayazid's 
head is a brick, made it is said, of dust from his 
shoes and garments, for the Koran says, *' He who 
is soiled with dust in the paths of Allah has noth- 
ing to fear from the fires of hell." Poor people 
sleep near the Mosques, because they think that 
Allah will there protect them. 

Chief of all the mosques, and the center of great 
religious ceremonies and of the Court, is the Mos- 
que of Ahmed. It is located on one side of a square 
celebrated in days of Roman power, when one of 
the famous Egyptian granite obelisks was brought 
from Heliopolis. The mosque was built by Ahmed 
I., a very pious Sultan. It was to have six mina- 
rets, more than any other. To this the priest of 
the Holy Church at Mecca objected, but Ahmed 
obviated the difficulty by building a seventh 
minaret at Mecca, and then had his way and com- 
pleted his own elaborate structure. Near by, 
Ahmed rests in the midst of his favorite wives, and 
thirty children. His coffin is covered with precious 
stuffs from India and Persia. The Moslems are 
noted for their zeal in prayer. Muezzin, or public 
crier, from every mosque invites the faithful to 
prayers. In the morning the Muezzin cries 



222 TRAVELS. 

" Prayer is better than sleep." And five times 
a day the Turk kneeling on his carpet, and fac- 
ing the sun, says his prayers. Mohammedism 
was embraced by the Turks in the tenth century. 
In 1453, Mohammed II., after a two months' siege 
with 300,000 soldiers, captured Constantinople. 

Mohammed in 632 was an orphan boy. He be- 
came a shepherd, a linen trader, then married a 
rich widow, and wisely retired from business. His 
wife was his first convert, and he had only forty con- 
verts during his first three years of labor, but he soon 
learned that his sword was a most effective mission- 
ary. Exiled, and sometimes discouraged, he lived 
on dates and milk, and died the leader of a great 
host, whose creed was, -^ There is but one God, and 
Mohammed is his Prophet." Mohammedism is 
to-day the accepted belief of 150,000,000 only 
7,000,000 of whom are Turks. 

Of all the mosques of Constantinople, St. Sophia 
is the most interesting. It was built many centur- 
ies ago, and has been burned, and has fallen in 
several times, but has always been rebuilt with 
increased splendor. It was a Christian church for 
1000 years, and it has been a mosque for nearly 
450 years, or since 1453. It is believed that an 
angel furnished the plans to the one hundred archi- 
tects, who superintended the 10,000 masons. 
Golden crescents glitter from the four minarets, 
while the great central gilded dome, 180 feet high, 
is seen for many miles at sea. The interior of St. 
Sophia is grand in dimensions, and in its history. 



TRAVELS. 223 

Gigantic specimens of Turkish penmanship cover 
indistinct sketches of Madonnas, and Saints of the 
Christian Church. The doors leading to the altar 
are of ivory, amber, and silver gilt. The wood- 
work is believed to have come from the planks of 
Noah's Ark. The block of red marble used for the 
Saviour's cradle is shown. In the cupola, in Arabic, 
are the beautiful words taken from the Koran, 
" God is the light of the Heaven, and the Earth." 
Historic columns, of white, black, green and blue 
marbles, some beautifully veined, and every kind of 
granite and prophyry, are included among the 
more than a hundred gigantic columns. Eight 
prophyry columns were brought from the Temple 
of the Sun at Baalbec, and four columns of green 
granite came from the Temple of Diana at Ephesus. 
The Sultan passes through the beautiful Gates of 
the Palace en route to one of the many mosques, 
on every Friday, the Turkish Sabbath. Immense 
crowds of people gather at these gates and line the 
streets. Thus they learn positively that their ruler 
is alive, and that he has not met secret assassination. 
Of thirty-eight Sultans who have ruled the Ottoman 
Empire since the conquest of Constantinople by the 
Turks thirty-four have died violent deaths. This 
immemorial custom of weekly visiting some mosque 
is usually attended with great display. A glitter- 
ing guard of thousands of soldiers, horse and foot, 
surround the Sultan's sacred presence, who either 
rides horseback, or sits in a gorgeous State carriage 
accompanied often by Said Pasha his powerful 



224. TRA VELS. 

adviser, or Osman Pasha, the hero of Plevna At 
the mosque he puts on sandals, and for twenty 
minutes listens to passages from the Koran, and 
then returns perhaps to the Dolma Baghcheh Palace. 
It is built of white marble with wings, columns, 
sculpture, arabesque everywhere, wreaths of flowers 
and foliage carved with the nicety of jewelry, and 
the whole resembles gigantic goldsmiths' work. 
This white palace as seen between the blue sky, 
and bluer water, is superb. Here Abdul Aziz on 
May 30, 1876, was dethroned, and he and his harem 
of fifty-two boat-loads of women were taken to the 
Old Palace where soon after he died, probably 
murdered. When Servia and Montenegro asked 
for independence, Aziz took sides with Russia 
against Great Britain, and he was at once deposed 
by his ministers. His nephew Murat V. was put 
upon the throne, but soon he was declared insane, 
and the present ruler, his brother Abdul Hamid H., 
became Sultan, and now occupies the Turkish 
throne. He is the fourth in male descent of the 
House of Ottoman, the founder of the Turkish 
Empire. He is slender, and now nearly sixty years 
old, (born 1842) has dark hair and eyes, with 
full beard, is mild in manner, and the father of 
seven children. His income is from five to ten 
millions per year, which is reported to be insufificient 
to provide for the Court and the harem, which 
number several thousand persons. The eldest son 
succeeds the Sultan only in case there are no older 
uncles or cousins. General Lew Wallace resfards 











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TRAVELS. 225 

Abdul Hamid II. as one of the most intellieent 
European Monarchs, and very humane, having never 
signed a death warrant in his twenty-two years' 
reign (1876). The existence of Abdul Hamid II. 
on the Bosporus is evidently a present necessity for 
the peace of Europe. 

The ceilings of the Palace are showily painted, 
and the doors are of cedar and mahogany, and 
exquisitely carved. The door of one room is of 
colored glass, extremely beautiful in the sunlight. 
The Sultan's bath-rooms are of alabaster, the air 
being perfumed. 

The women of the Turkish harem are mostly of 
the Circassian race, and are purchased, or they 
come of their own free will. The Turks, in speak- 
ing of the Circassian girl, say that " She is as beau- 
tiful as the moon," and often they pay a thousand 
dollars or more for her. Syrian and Nubian girls 
sell for less. The Circassian often is slight in form, 
with lily-white skin, light wavy hair and blue eyes. 
Since time immemorial it has been a blonde who 
has reigned as the favorite, and often she has had 
great influence in affairs of State. George Eliot 
says," The beauty of a lovely woman is like music.'* 
It is droll that Circassian freckles should be con- 
sidered one of the highest marks of their beauty. 

The Turkish women, as well as the men, smoke 
the fragrant narghile, a pipe six or eight feet long. 
The women of the harem live in the inner courts, 
shut out from the world by lattice work, while no 
man visitor is allowed to enter their apartments. 



226 TRA VELS. 

Foreign ladies occasionally are received ; the hostess 
herself half reclines on a divan, about her are por- 
tieres and rich rugs. Delicious coffee is offered to 
guests in tiny jeweled cups, and sweetmeats are 
presented on golden trays. Music and dancing are 
the special delight of the harems whose inmates, of 
course, live in luxury and idleness. The Turks 
have a National dance, formed by joining hands in 
a ring, while the feet are not moved. The size of 
the Turkish harems varies. Abdul Medjid, the 
elder, had five wives, and was waited upon by 2,000 
slaves. The Beylerbeg Palace on the Asiatic shores 
of the Bosporus is the most charming of the resid- 
ences of the Sultan. Beautiful terraces, hanging 
gardens with rarest plants, summer houses, fount- 
ains, yoke elms, and clusters of roses are here. 
At this Palace Abdul Aziz, with delicate gallantry, 
once entertained Empress Eugenie. The Sultan 
had copied in every detail Eugenie's sleeping apart- 
ments at the Tuileries. When the Empress en- 
tered, she saw her unfinished embroidery, a book 
left unread, opened at a certain page, and Eugenie 
transported to Paris, as if by magic, cried, " Ah, 
I'm at home." Formerly the Turks thought woman 
was without a soul. 

Opposite Constantinople lived for a time Florence 
Nightingale, a refined and noble English woman, 
whose heroic devotion to the sick and dying during 
the Crimean War in the hospital at Scutari, over 
which she had entire control, has made her name 
immortal. She was firm but always gentle, and 



TRAVELS. 227 

had no fear of cholera or fever. She braved every 
danger and became the idol of the soldiers. These 
wounded heroes would kiss her shadow, and turn 
their heads back on the pillows content. Victor 
Hugo once said, " Good actions are the invisible 
hinges of the doors of Heaven." Exalted woman- 
hood is surely the test of a higher civilization. 

" The way to settle the Eastern Question," said 
General Grant, '■' is to drive the Turks out of Europe 
forever." But this vexed Eastern, or European 
question, seems no nearer a settlement to-day than 
fifty years ago. Recently this " sick man " of 
Europe has lost the valuable Island of Crete, and in 
God's own time intelligent Europe will push him 
and his hordes east of the Bosporus. 

On the loth we took tea with the American 
Embassador, Hon. Horace Maynard, who graduated 
from my own college at Amherst, and we had a 
most enjoyable visit with his family. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Headed for Vienna. General Lucius Fairchild and Family. 
Across Bulgaria. Attar of Roses. Osman Pasha and 
Skobeleff at Plevna. A Threatened Conflict on the Danube. 
A Military Play at Bucharest. Generous Captain F. R. de 
Wolski. Buda-Pesth. Ferencz Deak. Pressburg. Louis 
Kossuth. Wien, or Vienna, second only to Paris. Gateway 
between East and West. Star and Crescent versus the Cross. 
The Fashionable Ring-Strasse. Elegant Equipages, and Artistic 
Buildings Galore. The Koran, St. Stephen's Cathedral. The 
Palace of Maria Theresa. Emperors, Books and Crowns. 
Progressive Joseph IL Vienna's New Monument. Canova's 
Masterpiece. Royal Hearts in Urns. Fine Bridges and 
Palaces. Schwarzenberg. The Home of a Hero. Austria's 
Army and Arsenal. Austrians fond of Opera, and Park 
Pleasures. Viennese Women. The Unhappy House of 
Hapsburg. 

Reluctantly, on November nth, we turned 
our back upon the Turkish Capital, for our visit 
was much too short to study intelligently Ori- 
ental character, dress, and a history linked with 
the varied people of the Mediterranean shores. 
Our ticket from Constantinople via Varna to 
Vienna on the Galatea of the Austrian Lloyd 
Steamship Line cost 220 francs, or about forty- 
four dollars. 

Northeast winds across the Black Sea create a 



TRAVELS. 229 

strong current in the Bosporus that sets south to 
the Sea of Marmora. When the winds blow in the 
opposite direction, then the current is hardly per- 
ceptible. We had smooth water all the way up 
the Strait, and across the Southwestern quarter of 
the Black Sea, till we came to Varna, a fortified 
seaport town of Bulgaria. A few mosques and 
slender minarets told of Turkish occupation since 
1392, and dry rot was written on the little city. 
At nine o'clock in the morning a small boat carried 
the passengers ashore. While huddled close in 
this little transfer boat I was introduced to General 
Lucius Fairchild, his wife, and two pretty daugh- 
ters. He lost his arm at the battle of Gettysburg 
and was promoted Brigadier General in 1863. From 
1878 to 1880 he was our popular Consul-General at 
Paris ; then Governor of Wisconsin, and our U. S. 
Consul at Liverpool, the latter a lucrative position. 
General Fairchild was Minister to Spain 1880-82. 
Finally he was elected Commander-in-chief of the 
Grand Army of the Republic in 1886. 

Our journey took us across northeastern Bulgaria 
to Rustchuk. Sophia, the capital, is in south- 
western Bulgaria on the great route from Constanti- 
nople to Belgrade. At every station were two or 
three soldiers with Astrakhan caps (pelts of young 
lambs) and light brown uniforms trimmed with 
scarlet. En route we passed ten miles north of 
Shumla, one of the keys of the Turkish Capital. 
Thrice its strong forts have resisted successfully 
the onslaughts of the Russian Army. 



230 TRA VELS. 

Further to the west is Plevna. My guide in 
Moscow was a body servant of General Skobeleff. 
This General had a handsome face, blue eyes and 
dark hair. He looked like an Apollo as he rode 
into battle on a white horse, wearing a white coat, 
as if dressed for a ball. Once he said, " Is not 
a battle the soldier's ball?" The Turks at Plevna 
called him the ''White General." He was 
always in the thickest of the fight, cheering on 
his men, careless of himself, having had six white 
horses shot under him, but always careful of his 
men. No wonder that he was idolized by all 
Russia. 

The surface of Bulgaria is mountainous in the 
south, whence many streams take their rise and 
flow north across level country into the blue Dan- 
ube. The Bulgarians descended from a Slavonic 
tribe that crossed the Volga in the seventh century. 
They speak the Servian language, are adherents of 
the Greek Church, and seem to be an industrious 
people. For centuries they have been oppressed 
by the Turks. They do some manufacturing in 
addition to their rural occupation, but their chief 
industry is the raising of live stock, for the country 
abounds in rich pastures. 

The principal source of attar or otto of roses is 
from the damask rose grown in Bulgaria, especially 
on the southern side of the Balkan Mountains. 
The yield is small, usually less than an ounce oi attar 
(perfume) from 150 pounds of rose-leaves. The 
odor of the well-known perfume is more agreeable 



TRAVELS. 231 

when the concentrated attar is diffused. It is 
often employed in the scenting of snuff. 

At six o'clock we came to Rustchuk, a fortified 
small city on the steep right bank of the Danube. 
Few if any public buildings or mosques of interest ; 
in fact, it was a wretched place, so we gladly took 
a small steamboat across the Danube to Giurgevo. 
The Danube (1770 miles) is the largest river of 
Europe next to the Volga. Giurgevo is a small 
city, whose fortifications were levelled by the Rus- 
sians in 1829. It is forty-five miles southeast of 
Bucharest, and its port, whence the city has some 
active trade with other ports on the Danube. 

Our party numbered eight, including two mes- 
sengers of the British and German Governments, 
and Captain F. R. de Wolski ; the latter had been 
engaged by the British Government in running a 
line between Bulgaria and East Roumelia. 

The messengers seized the first carriages and 
dashed off to connect with the Express going west. 
By the time that Captain de Wolski had secured 
carriages for the ladies, only a miserable apology 
for a rack wagon remained for General Fairchild 
and myself. A ragged Bulgarian had brought up 
the General's hand satchel from the boat, but 
would not surrender it, evidently because he 
thought the silver piece (about an English shilling) 
was not enough. He looked very savage, but 
the General snatched away his satchel and gave it 
to m.e. When the Roumanian attempted to 
letake it, the General reached back as if for his 



232 TRA VELS. 

pistol, and for a moment I expected the smell of 
powder in the air ; I tried to check the hero 
of Gettysburg, who whispered to me, '* that he 
never carried a pistol." The threatening action 
of the General's only arm and hand had the desired 
effect, and I lifted the bold Brigadier into the ram- 
shackle wagon, and off at a canter went the half-fed 
Roumanian pony, the driver shouting, Alia ! Alia ! 
(To go ! To go !) The General, always generous, 
said " that the silver piece was all the change he 
had. Our Avalah ! Avalah ! (Thank you ! Thank 
you !) shouted back to the porter failed to bring 
any sunshine into his defiant face. 

The rush of the messengers for the westbound 
Express was useless, as the train had just pulled 
out and all, greatly disappointed, spent the night at 
a hotel in Giurgevo. And the next morning we 
rode to Bucharest, or Bookaresht (i. e., *' the City 
of Enjoyment)," a misnomer, however. We found 
a good table at the Hotel Brofft, but we paid for it. 
Bucharest is the Capital of Roumania, which was 
formed in 1859 by the union of Moldavia and 
Wallachia. The estimated population is 5,500,000, 
and the Government consists of a King, a Senate 
and a Chamber. Bucharest boasts of a University 
and Cathedral. It is also a Fortress of high order. 
In the afternoon we drove about the city, and 
visited the Government Buildings. The Parliament 
was hard at work on a new Constitution. In the 
evening we saw at the theatre a military play, that 
evoked from the people much patriotic applause. 



TRAVELS. 233 

On Thursday, November 14, at 8:10 a. m., we 
left this far away city for Hungary. At the station 
were a score of poor children dressed in thin white 
woolen cloth and no shoes. They all bore tiny jugs 
of water and glasses, hoping to sell. The older 
people wore coarse white woolen cloth gathered at 
the waist by a belt, with a square black lamb-skin 
cap. The women seemed fond of bright colors. 
Many of the cattle were gray, and peasant farmers 
were ploughing up the rich black soil in the wide 
valleys that extended back to the Carpathian Moun- 
tains. The houses were small, the roofs thatched, 
and all the villages gave evidence that the poverty 
of the East pinched terribly most of the inhab- 
itants. 

Captain de Wolski, when he learned that I was 
not to stop at Vienna, on the suggestion of General 
Fairchild, wished to know if either he or the Gen- 
eral, could extend any favors? "They half sus- 
pected," he said, " that my funds might be low." 
" You are right," I replied, but I declined all 
assistance, till the General himself insisted that I 
should keep with their party, and stop at both 
Buda-Pesth and Vienna. Then the captain gener- 
ously thrust ten pounds into my hand, saying 
" Here, use this money and when you reach 
London hand the amount to my sister, who 
lives at Abdonville, Kew Gardens, Surrey." 

A journey of twenty-four hours by railway 
brought us to Buda-Pesth, a union of two jealous 
cities which was brought about by the use of the 



234 TRAVELS. 

little hyphen. In both American and European 
cities struggling newspapers, as well as cities, have 
learned that great saving is effected by the use of 
this short sign, and the people get much better 
journals. Hundreds of business firms also are 
learning the same valuable lesson of economy in the 
concentration of their works and business. At 
first the people petted this tiny and interesting cub, 
but now when thousands of millions are consoli- 
dated in a few giant trusts, the cub is lion-like in 
size and strength, and the end and results are not 
yet in sight. 

Buda-Pesth is the Capital of Hungary, a country 
larger in area than New England, and surrounded 
on all sides, save the south, by mountain ranges. 
The fertility of the soil is extraordinary. The 
crops grown are not unlike those in America. 
Wheat is especially fine, and the recent prosperity 
of Buda-Pesth is due in part to its extensive 
grain trade. The hotels and public buildings are 
substantial. The blue Danube is spanned by an 
imposing suspension and other bridges, the former 
costing millions. Emperor Francis Joseph, since 
he gave Hungary a Constitutional Monarchy, has 
been a very popular ruler. 

Our day in Buda-Pesth we enjoyed immensely. 
We stopped at the Hotel Hungary, which has three 
hundred rooms. The population of the city is fully 
half a million. Buda is on the right or west bank 
of the Danube, and Pesth is on the east bank. The 
latter, since the inundation in 1839, ^^^ been beauti- 



TRAVELS, 235 

fully rebuilt. Our party of six first drove for two 
hours in the morning. The streets are wide, well- 
paved, and built up with costly blocks and homes. 
We saw the King's Palace, the fine Gardens, the 
Museum, the Jewish Synagogue costing three- 
fourths of a million, and finally we looked in upon 
the Hungarian Diet. The guide, with much pride, 
pointed out the seat of Ferencz Deak (died 1876), 
a Hungarian statesman, who was the chief instru- 
ment in the construction of the Austro-Hungarian 
Monarchy on the dualistic basis in 1867. We saw 
several companies of Hungarian soldiers, who wore 
tight trousers, dark coats, and blue caps. A mili- 
tary dance and supper at our hotel kept things lively 
till past midnight. 

Next day the ride of eight hours towards Vienna 
was Interesting, as the daylight enabled us to study 
more in detail the country of Hungary and the 
towns, big and little, en route. Leaving Buda- 
Pesth, for some distance going north we skirted the 
left bank of the blue Danube, with herds of cattle 
in sight and boats on the river. Our journey ran 
westerly till we came to Pressburg, a city of four 
thousand inhabitants, and about forty miles east of 
Vienna. Pressburg is the old Capital of Hungary, 
where for generations the coronations of kings took 
place. Extensive and beautiful views are had from 
the Schlossberg above the town. Louis Kossuth 
(born 1802) was a member of the National Diet of 
Pressburg when he was twenty-seven years old, and 
later was imprisoned for high treason, because he 



236 TRAVELS. 

printed and circulated the Parliamentary debates 
among the people. In October, 1848, Hungary 
rose in insurrection. On April 14, 1849, ^^^^ Diet 
declared the independence of Hungary and ap- 
pointed Kossuth governor. The Austrians, aided 
by the armies of Russia, finally conquered Hungary, 
and Kossuth and his followers lived in exile in 
Turkey. In 1851-52 he traveled in the United 
States, speaking eloquently for his beloved country. 
Later he resided in London, and for many years he 
lived in retirement in Turin, hating the House of 
Hapsburg as ever, but powerless to free his land 
from Austrian rule. Like Bismarck, Louis Kossuth 
lived to be over ninety years old, dying in March, 
1894. 

It was two o' clock on Friday when our expect- 
ant party entered the railway station in the North- 
eastern part of Vienna. This station is an impos- 
ing structure, and would do credit to any city. . It 
is connected by a loop line railway with many city 
and suburban stations. We drove to the Hotel 
Metropole on Franz-Josef-Quai. 

Vienna, capital of the Empire of Austria, is the 
gateway to Constantinople, capital of Turkey. At 
Vienna the East meets the West. Here at the 
walls of Vienna the westward advance of the Mo- 
hammedan Star and Cresent was twice (i 529-1683) 
successfully opposed by the triumphant Cross of 
the Christian. Since 1282 Vienna has been the 
Capital of the Hapsburg dominions. The Haps- 
burg House rules four distinct nationalities, which 



TRAVELS. 237 

are being welded into an Empire reigned over by 
Francis Joseph, a worthy descendant of Maria 
Theresa. In 1866 the claims of Austria to the lead- 
ership of Germany were settled in favor of Prussia 
by the total overthrow of the Austrian armies at 
Sadowa. 

The Austrian Empire has a score of states, the 
people of which speak as many languages. Three- 
fourths of the population (41,000,000) are Catholics, 
which makes Austria the leading Catholic Power of 
Europe. 

Vienna is located in a plain surrounded by dis- 
tant mountains, on the southern arm of the river, 
called the Danube Canal, into which, on the east 
side of the city, falls the River Wien ; hence Vienna 
is called Wien by the Viennese. 

Vienna is quite the rival of Paris. A girdle of 
antiquated fortifications in 1857 yielded to wide 
and splendid boulevards, which open new and varied 
enjoyments for those who live in, or visit the Inner 
or Old City, or the newer suburbs. The several 
boulevards, which are two miles in length and 
average 165 feet in width, collectively are known as 
the Ring-Strasse which, with Franz-Josef-Quai, 
encircle the Old City. 

After dinner we secured the services of Ferdinand 
Sussenbok as guide, and for two hours drove past 
the lovely Stadt Park and along the delightful 
Ring-Strasse. We passed many blocks of handsome 
buildings, occupied as shops and flats. Other fine 
structures were the Imperial Palace, Theatres, 



238 TRA VELS. 

Picture Galleries, Churches, Museums, &c. The 
boulevards were crowded with equipages ; one, 
drawn by gray horses, contained Baron Roths- 
child ; while the wide walks were thronged with 
well dressed persons out shopping and sight seeing. 
A much higher civilization than that at Constan- 
tinople. 

The Koran of the Mohammedans, in uplifting 
power for humanity, is grandly surpassed by the 
Bible of the Christians in its inspirations, and in its 
glorious world victories. 

On November 17th we visited St. Stephen's 
Cathedral, which is the central point of Vienna, 
whence the numbers of the avenues and streets are 
reckoned. For generations a rule of health required 
that all who entered Vienna should first demonstrate 
their good health by driving a big nail in a tall post 
that stood by the Cathedral. The streets are nar- 
row, but well paved, and almost shut in by lofty 
houses with countless dormer windows ; and short 
cut passages or arcades are numerous. The Cathe- 
dral is a Gothic church of much beauty, built of 
limestone, five hundred years ago. Underneath 
are catacombs, three tiers of vaults one above the 
other, in which a few years ago a man lost his 
way and was starved to death. The Cathedral with 
its graceful spire is a masterpiece. The outlook 
affords extensive views of the City, and of historic 
battlefields in the distance. The Inner City is the 
center of gayety and fashion, where live the Court, 
and where is situated the Imperial Palace; this is 



Travels. 539 

a great irregular pile of buildings which, since the 
thirteenth century, has been occupied by the Aus- 
trian princes. Here also lived Maria Theresa, her 
successors, and here also lives the present Emperor, 
Francis Joseph. Here are the vast Imperial 
Library, the Mineral Cabinet, the Treasury, where 
among countless objects of interest are shown the 
diamonds of Maria Theresa, one alone being worth 
$300,000 ; also the necklace and crown of the unfor- 
tunate Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa, 
and the golden cradle lined with white satin, in 
which was rocked the only son of Napoleon the 
Great. 

In an adjoining square stands an equestrian 
statue of Joseph II., one of Austria's greatest rulers. 
Joseph abolished serfdom, and nine hundred con- 
vents with their 36,000 monks. He granted reli- 
gious liberty to Protestants, established a free press, 
promoted education, and a protective tariff, and 
thus wonderfully helped Austria during the ten 
years of his reign. Catholic influence finally forced 
him to abrogate most of his reforms, and he died 
(1790) of grief, some say by poison. His mother 
was Empress Maria Theresa, the daughter and pride 
of Charles VI. Like Catherine the Great of Russia, 
she was a woman of wonderful executive power. 
She was educated with the greatest care, and was 
made the confidante of her father in matters of 
State. On the death of Charles VI. the reigning 
powers of Europe, disputing the title of his daugh- 
ter, made war upon Maria Theresa. Young and 



240 TRA VELS. 

beautiful, she presented herself to her Hungarian 
subjects at Pressburg, with her little son Joseph II., 
and made an address to them, committing herself 
and her child to their care. They drew their swords, 
exclaiming, " We will die for Maria Theresa." 
And thousands kept their word. Then followed 
the War of the Austrian Succession, and later the 
Seven Years' War, both of which only confirmed 
her in the possession of her inheritance. She died in 
1780. On May 13, 1888, a splendid monument was 
unveiled in Vienna to the memory of this wonderful 
woman. Emperor Francis Joseph, accompanied 
by all the members of the Imperial family, the Aus- 
trian and Hungarian Ministers, and the foreign 
diplomatic representatives, were present at the 
unveiling of this new monument. 

In St. Augustine's Church is the tomb of Maria 
Christina, who was Maria Theresa's favorite daugh- 
ter. It is Canova's masterpiece, and was copied by 
his pupils for his own tomb in Venice. In the 
adjacent Loretto Chapel are urns, which contain 
the hearts of the Imperial family, including the 
heart of Maria Theresa, while her body lies in the 
Capuchin Church not far away, surrounded by her 
numerous family. 

South of the Ring-Strasse is the Elizabeth Bridge 
which spans the small river Wien which flows north- 
easterly through the city. This bridge is ninety 
feet wide, and is adorned with eight statues on the 
parapets, and leads to the principal fruit market on 
the right. The long building, with Ionic portico 



TRAVELS. 241 

on the left, is the Polytechnic Institute for practical 
science, industry and commerce. Beyond rises the 
noble dome of Charles Church, with colossal Corin- 
thian columns. Here on Sabbath day may be heard 
some of the finest music in Vienna. Further down 
the River is the Schwarzenberg Bridge, from which 
is seen to the north the equestrian statue of 
Schwarzenberg. Nothing was too good to be 
given by the Austrians to their famous general. 
While Schwarzenberg lived, Austria conferred 
upon him vast estates and honors, as England did 
upon Wellington. He was made President of the 
Imperial Military Council, and died at Leipsic in 
1820. In the suburbs southeast of Vienna is situated 
the Schwarzenberg Palace, the summer home of 
this brave Prince, who took part in the battle of 
Hohenlinden and Wagram against the great Napo- 
leon. When Schwarzenberg was Embassador to 
France, he conducted the negotiations for the mar- 
riage of Marie Louise with Napoleon. At Leipsic 
he commanded the allied forces of Austria, Prussia 
and Russia, won a great victory and marched to 
Paris. He entered France a second time after the 
decisive battle of Waterloo. 

Further southeast are the extensive Belvedere 
Gardens, between the upper and lower Palaces, 
with terraces and fountains in the French style. 
They are made beautiful with shady avenues and 
flower beds, fit home, indeed, for Prince Eugene of 
Savoy, hero of the Battles of Blenheim and Ouden- 
arde. The famous Belvedere is now used in part 



242 TRA VELS. 

for antiquities, and part for pictures. In examples 
of Rubens and the Venetian School it is unsurpassed. 
Vienna has become an important art center, many 
famous artists, noted especially as colorists, having 
come here from Munich, while the increased wealth 
of recent years has greatly developed architectural 
talent. 

Further southeast and we reach the Arsenal, 
with a statue of Austria above the entrance. The 
vestibule is borne by twelve pillars, and adorned 
with scores of marble statues of Austrian heroes. 
Wings extend to the right and left, and form an 
immense quadrangle of buildings, covering nearly 
seventy acres, which comprise a Museum of weap- 
ons, a cannon foundry, a gun factory, iron works, 
etc. In the Museum are seen cannon of every age 
and in great variety, and an extensive stock of fire- 
arms. Military service is obligatory, without sub- 
stitution, upon all citizens of the Empire who have 
reached twenty years of age. The Austrian army 
on a war footing is nearly two millions of soldiers. 
The navy, however, is not correspondingly large. 

On the evening of the 17th we attended an opera 
given in the Imperial Opera House. It is one of 
the handsomest buildings in the Ring-Strasse, built 
in Renaissance style, with several tiers of seats and 
a capacity for 3,000 spectators. The Foyer and 
adjoining rooms are richly embellished with opera- 
tic scenes, and busts of celebrated composers. 
Pauline Lucca, a noted German opera-singer, sang 
exquisitely. Her voice was a full soprano. The 



TRA VELS. 243 

large audience gave frequent and deserved approval. 
The Strauss brothers whom we enjoyed, are 
idolized by the Austrians, who seem more fond 
of music than any other nation. They attend 
the opera and theatres at the sensible hour of seven 
in the evening, usually in full dress, and by ten- 
thirty are back again at their home, if not detained 
at some charming cafe. 

This part of Vienna is unsurpassed, in handsome 
architecture, by any Capital in Europe. Here are 
the new Exchange, costing $2,500,000, the superb 
Courts of Justice, Museum, Theatres, Academies 
of Art, University with 4,000 students, and 
palatial residences. Near by is the exquisite Gothic 
Votive Church with twin spires, completed in 1879, 
to commemorate the escape of Francis Joseph from 
assassination. 

Viennese women are noted for their beauty. 
They are slight, delicate, and seem, like the Pari- 
sians, to live largely for enjoyment. They walk 
and ride in their Prater, which extends for four 
miles down the Danube and contains 4270 acres. 
Here thousands of chairs are arranged under the 
trees, where lovers of pleasure can take refreshments, 
watch the passing crowd, and listen to music. 
Here was located the World's Exposition of 1873. 
The public baths of Vienna are the finest in the 
world. Viennese women are especially good swim- 
mers. Some of the handsomest men and women in 
the world are to be found on the streets of Vienna. 
All are polite, saying as they meet each other, in 



244 TRA VELS. 

German, " I kiss your hand." Who could be rude 
after such a greeting ? 

Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, and King of 
Hungary, and Bohemia, is a direct descendant of 
the House of Hapsburg, which is centuries old. 
He came to the throne on the abdication of his 
Uncle Ferdinand V. in 1849. Francis Joseph is 
slight in stature, and has a bald head, with heavy 
side whiskers, light blue eyes, and a kindly face. 
This Emperor-King keeps three hundred carriages, 
and six hundred fine horses. When he appears in 
State, his carriage is drawn by six black Andalusian 
horses, nearly covered with gold trappings. His 
Empire, full of internal dissension, he pacifies by a 
wise admixture of kindness and firmness. He is 
brave, as shown at the battle of Solferino ; also 
patient, devoted to the affairs of State, rising every 
morning at five o'clock and working at his desk 
with his secretary, often till late at night. He is 
the richest man in Europe, it is said, and devotes 
much money to art, literature, and the poor. He 
has done many things to encourage skill and indus- 
try throughout the Empire. 

Francis Joseph's wife, the Empress Elizabeth, 
was said to be the most beautiful woman in Europe. 
She was the niece of Louis I., the art King of 
Bavaria, and the mother of three children, Sophia, 
Rudolph, and Valerie; the two latter have written 
each a book. The Empress was intelligent, noted 
for her horsemanship and other athletic sports, and 
an accomplished player on the zither, having taken 




ELIZABETH, EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA. 



TRA VELS. 245 

lessons from the first masters in Vienna. She 
spent much of her time at Buda-Pesth, the capital 
of Hungary, and was greatly beloved by her peo- 
ple. Her sudden death at Geneva by the hand of 
a cowardly assassin shocked the world. 

A short drive brings us to Schonbrunn Palace, 
the lovely summer residence of Royalty, a large 
yellow palace, the interior fresh and beautiful. It 
was the favorite home of Marie Antoinette in her 
childhood. One room is furnished in red, and was 
the bridal room of Crown Prince Rudolph, and 
Stephanie. Another room is in green velvet and kept 
as when Napoleon slept on its single iron bedstead 
in 1804, and again in 1809, after he had conquered 
Austria ; and on this same bed his darling boy, 
Napoleon II., expired July 22, 1832. In the rear 
amid extensive gardens is a beautiful fountain. In 
the fountain is the nymph Egeria, who presides 
over the birth of children. She is said by Ovid to 
have married Numa Pompilius, and was so over- 
come by his death, that she melted into tears, and 
was changed into a fountain by Diana. 

Rudolph was the second child and only son of 
Francis Joseph. He wrote a history of Hungary 
which was illustrated by the best artists. 

Stephanie, the second daughter of Leopold II. of 
Belgium, became Rudolph's bride. She was beloved 
for her sunny and amiable disposition, and extreme 
courtesy to her people. Vienna gave the Royal 
lovers a magnificent reception, the streets being 
veritable bowers of roses. Gradually, however, the 



246 TRA VELS. 

Royal couple drifted apart till on one cold morn- 
ing in February, 1889, in the isolated castle of 
Meyerling, Prince Rudolph's valet called at his 
master's door. It was locked, and all was quiet 
within. The door was broken open, and there on 
the bed lay the dead Crown Prince of Austria, his 
revolver near his right hand, and his left arm was 
clasped about the dead body of Baroness Marie 
Vetsera, who had taken strychnine. Marie was 
beautiful and belonged to a rich Austrian family. 
Rudolph became violently enamored of the Bar- 
oness. His father, Emperor Francis Joseph, refused 
to forward to the Pope a petition for divorce from 
Stephanie, whom the Crown Prince had come to 
dislike, and so the Royal lovers chose death in 
each other's arms. Unfortunate and unhappy 
House of Hapsburg. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Fontainebleau, Geneva. Madam de Stael. Chillon, Mer 
de Glace. Mauvais Pas. Chamouny. Mont Blanc. Mt. St. 
Gotthard. St. Bernard Hospice. Monks and Dogs. Martigny. 
Rhone Glacier. Kandersteg. Gemmi Pass. Interlaken. 
Lauterbrunnen. Wood Carvers. Lucerne. Thorwaldsen's 
Lion. Mt. Rigi. William Tell and Gessler. 

On our fourth visit to Europe, we went 
from Paris to Switzerland, via Fontainebleau. 
Picturesque country homes, small parks, and 
busy mills were passed in rapid succession. Then 
came glimpses of the lovely valley of the Seine, 
and at length, extensive forests appeared, as the 
train bore us up the river towards Fontainebleau, 
which is thirty seven miles south of Paris. 

Fontainebleau is a quiet little city with clean 
streets, which with its forests of over forty thou- 
sand acres, is the spot lovers seek, if they wish to 
escape inquisitive people. Here Napoleon and 
Josephine spent some of their happiest days. 

Francis I. converted Fontainebleau into a royal 
residence of great extent and magnificence, and 
French and Italian artists made the interior beau- 
tiful. Here in 1809 the unjust sentence of divorce 
was pronounced against Josephine. Here also 
April 4, 1 8 14 on a small round table. Napoleon 



248 TRA VELS. 

signed his abdication. He begged that he might 
resign in favor of his son, but the Allied Powers 
relentlessly told him " No ! " Some friends once 
heard Josephine say to Napoleon, " It is not your 
lucky star, that controls events, it is mine." Surely 
enough after the fatal divorce Napoleon's lucky 
star sank forever below the horizon. 

We drove where kings and queens had often 
driven through great gorges, and over the magnifi- 
cent park of constantly varying character, returning 
at six o 'clock to the Gardens of the Palace. 

In the Court Mrs. Bolton purchased, of an old wo- 
man under a blue umbrella, two papers of stale bread 
and we went across to a Pavilion, near which is the 
pond, famous for its large and venerable carp. Pos- 
sibly French royalty and nobility inherited their love 
of fish ponds from the Roman patricians, who found 
joy in feeding the fish, called barbel, out of their 
hands. Wagon loads of fat carp tumbled over each 
other in hungry pursuit of the bread crumbs thrown 
to them. The carp has a large head, thick lips, 
small mouth, arched back, and often weighs twenty 
pounds or more. It was much esteemed as food by 
royalty. 

Most of the land of France and Europe is farmed 
in strips without fences. Tillers of the soil are 
grouped in villages to-day as formerly, when safety 
of life required concentration ; and the peasants go 
long distances to and from their labors in the fields 
and vine-yards on the hill-sides. It is a mistake to 
believe that the French are not lovers of homes, 



TRA VELS. 249 

simply because the word home does not appear in 
their language, for France has over six millions of 
land-owners, and their thrift is visible wherever you 
go. 

The Republic seems firmly rooted in the hearts 
of the masses. The earnest efforts of the Govern- 
ment throughout France in behalf of free popular 
education as a necessity to universal suffrage, is one 
of the best possible guarantees of the permanency 
of the French Republic. The railway ride was 
thoroughly enjoyed through France and into Swit- 
zerland, the pleasure ground of Europe, which was 
entered at Geneva. 

This is a beautiful city of 50,000 inhabitants, and 
historic at every turn. Though Geneva when a Re- 
public was small in area, yet she overturned Europe 
with her ideas and principles. In the days of the 
Reformation her citizen, John Calvin, made Geneva 
the stronghold of Protestantism, and in Geneva lived 
famous historians and philosophers. Calvin's grave 
is marked by a little white stone covered with brown 
leaves. 

As one of the six bridges is crossed one sees on 
an island a bronze statue erected to the memory 
of Jean Jacques Rousseau, who was also born at 
Geneva and whose writings have had marvelous in- 
fluence in the world. He was the son of a Geneva 
watchmaker, and always shy, even to excess. His 
volumes on social questions, largely dreams of social 
equality, aroused a storm of opposition, and he fled 
for safet}/ to Switzerland where his works were pub- 



250 TRAVELS. 

licly burned. After wandering through France and 
England, he finally returned to Paris with poor 
health, and in poverty and despair died at the home 
of a friend. His five children were supported by 
the State. Though a sophist, and skeptic, he al- 
ways felt compelled to pay reverence to the moral- 
ity of the Bible, little as he obeyed its teachings in 
his own life. 

Dr. J. G. Holland once told me that he and 
Roswell Smith stood together on this Mont Blanc 
bridge looking over into the crystal waters of the 
Rhone, flowing beneath, and that then and there, 
was born the Century Magazine. The wish of these 
two men then expressed was to found a publication 
whose influence in the homes of the American 
Republic might be as pure as the snow-water of 
the Alps. How completely these hopes, entertained 
in a foreign-land, have been realized ! 

Geneva has fine streets, substantial hotels and 
other buildings, but in the old town the streets are 
narrow, steep, and crooked. The Swiss make the 
best and poorest watches and jewelry in the world. 
Diamonds, amethyst, and agate jewelry, and carved 
wood are everywhere for sale at reasonable prices. 
Commodious hotels and other attractions, make 
Geneva a rallying point for tourists. In her hotels 
wealth finds relief from care, and inspiration from 
the study of the beautiful in nature. Her public 
parks and gardens contain historic monuments, 
kiosques and flowers, and on summer evenings 
excellent band music is furnished. 



TRAVELS. 251 

We enjoyed the music, and moonlight rides on 
the peaceful lake. A steam-yacht took us up the 
west shore of Lake Geneva, which is bordered with 
cedars of Lebanon, sweet chestnuts, magnolias and 
vines. We landed first at Coppet, where Madam 
de Stael once lived and wrote. Through her social 
influence and pen, she made and unmade French 
ministers, and her home in Paris was called the 
Camp of the Revolution. Because she opposed 
Napoleon, he banished her. Her novels are bril- 
liant, and her history of Germany is admirable. 
Madam de Stael wrote rapidly, much as she talked. 
Her vivacity, wit and elegance captivated every- 
body she met. She was ardent, her face full of ten- 
derness, and her voice like music. She was some- 
what severe on men, saying " The more I study 
men, the more I like dogs." Madam de Stael mar- 
ried for her second husband, an officer twenty-seven 
years old, and though she was forty-five it proved a 
happy marriage. One day a person said to her hus- 
band, " She is old enough to be your mother." 
" Thank you," he replied, ^' now I have another 
reason for loving her." 

In full sight from her windows and writing table 
are seen tiny craft, graceful lateen-sails, and across 
the blue waters of the lake white capped Mont 
Blanc towering among the clouds. In a walled 
enclosure among the trees is shown her grave, cov- 
ered with evergreen myrtle. 

Lake Geneva is fifty miles long and crescent-shape, 
and on both shores are many delightful cities^ 



252 TRAVELS, 

charming villas, and rich vegetation. This lovely 
Lake district has been the favorite theme of Vol- 
taire, Goethe, Byron, and many others. Alexander 
Dumas likens Lake Geneva to the Bay of Naples. 
We stopped at several historic and interesting 
places along the shore. Near the upper end of the 
Lake, beneath rich foliage, and among luxuriant 
vineyards is Vevey, of whose scenes Goethe was so 
found, that he once said, *' Ah, if I could only 
breathe out upon paper some of the glowing images 
which teem within, so that the sheet should be a 
perfect mirror of my soul ! " Here Rousseau wrote 
his famous novel "The New Heloise", and here 
are buried the Regicides, Ludlow and Broughton. 

We go as far as the rocks where stands the 
castle of Chillon, immortalized by Byron. 

" Chillon ! thy prison is a holy place, 

And thy sad floor and altar, for 'twas trod, 

Until his very steps have left a trace, 

Worn as if thy cold pavement were a sod. 

By Bonnivard ! May none those marks efface, 

For they appeal from tyranny to God." 

Here within Chillon, which is a thousand years 
old, in the 15th century heroic Frangoisde Bonnivard 
was confined by the Duke of Savoy, an enemy of 
the Republic of Geneva. After many lonely years 
of imprisonment the victorious Genevese burst 
open the castle door, exclaiming, '' Bonnivard, Arise ! 
Thou art free." Bonnivard's first words were, 
" Geneva ! what of Geneva ? " and the answer came, 
" Geneva too is free," 



TRAVELS. 253 

On the pillars of this old time Bastile, converted 
into a Temple of Liberty, by the loyalty of a single 
lover of freedom, the names of Victor Hugo, Byron, 
George Sands, and a host of others are inscribed. 

Next day as we rode out of Geneva on a diligence, 
we passed well kept grounds and villas through 
fertile valleys, and curiously built old towns, with 
occasional views of dazzling peaks of snow-clad 
mountains. We went through tunnels often with 
the torrent of the Arve at our feet, till gradually 
the glaciers became visible, and the bracing ride of 
fifty-four miles brought the coach into the lovely 
Vale of Chamouny, which is enclosed by precipi- 
tous peaks. Annually thousands of tourists find at 
Chamouny much sought for rest and a delightful 
peace of mind. Chamouny is near the source of 
the River Arve, where the murmur of its waters, 
the shepherd's flute, and the tinkling of the cow-bells 
lull you to sleep. 

The valley twelve miles long, and a half mile 
wide, brought under cultivation early in the 
twelfth century by Benedictine monks, was con- 
sidered unsafe for tourists till the middle of the 
last century, when the writings of adventurous 
travelers and naturalists, gave great impulse to the 
tourist public, ever anxious for something new. 

We rose with the sun, and after a breakfast of 
coffee, eggs and rolls, began a vigorous zig-zag walk, 
up through the pine and larch forests of Montan- 
vert on the east side of the valley to a height 
which affords a bewildering view of the vast sea of 



254 TRAVELS. 

ice that fills the highest gorges of the Mont Blanc 
chain. 

We were guided over the Mer de Glace, with its 
deep crevasses, which seem like a frozen sea of 
blue billows. These rivers of ice combine to form 
the enormous glaciers of the Alps. Here Professor 
John Tyndall came to study for weeks the theory 
of glacier motion. Glaciers creep down as des- 
cribed by Shelley : — 

" Like snakes that watch their prey, 

From their far fountain, 
Slowly rolling on ; there many a precipice, 

Frost and sun in scorn of mortal power, 
Have piled dome, pyramid, and pinnacle, 

A city of death, distinct with many a tower, 
And wall impregnable of beaming ice," 

The return is made by Mauvais Pas, bad pass. 
The path is hewn in steep rocks, and provided 
with iron rods or railing. Loose stones and 
debris of the moraine are piled up on both sides. 
The descent is made into the Vale of Chamouny ; 
renewed health, increased knowledge, and restored 
appetite repay the tedious effort. A few miles 
below Chamouny is seen the Glacier des Bossons 
with obelisks and icy crags ; and en route are pretty 
challets and waterfalls. With a graduate of Oxford 
for companion, we climbed the Glacier des Bossons. 
We lost the path, but struggled on and up, till a 
guide came to our rescue. A franc gained admis- 
sion to a cavern hewn 260 feet into the glacier-ice 



TRAVELS, 255 

whence emerges a torrent. The head of the glacier 
slowly advances, or recedes with the temperature. 
It furnished ice for hotel tables, and ice-water for 
the wheel of a peasant's saw-mill. 

Early next day we began the ascent of Mont 
Blanc, seemingly insurmountable. But trusty 
guides with ladders, ice picks and ropes promised to 
overcome all obstacles. By rocky paths, through 
steep forests, and pastures they reached a glacier, 
which requires two hours to cross. A monument 
recently erected in Chamouny, tells of Jacques 
Balmat, the first to ascend in 1786 this Monarch of 
European Mountains. Every step requires the 
greatest caution, as the difficulties constantly 
increase. Refreshments renew the strength, and 
guides stimulate the courage. In 1870 a party of 
eleven persons when part way up perished in a storm. 
Guides advise you not to attempt to climb Mont 
Blanc in foggy weather. In late years, the path- 
way discovered by pioneers a century ago, is 
annually trodden by scores of persons of many 
nationalities, and fully a thousand have accom- 
plished the difficult feat. 

The first day's journey ends at the Grands Mulcts, 
where a hut is perched upon a ledge nearly two 
miles above the sea. Here a genial Swiss keeps a 
regular Inn, and weary climbers can pass a comfor- 
table night, if deaf to falling avalanches. Near by 
a young English lady and guide, neglecting to use 
the rope, fell into a deep crevasse. The guides 
allow you but little sleep, as it is usual to start at 



256 TRAVELS. 

midnight for the summit. Compensation however, 
is found in the full moon, illuminating all the Alps, 
and for hours you travel on and up, as in a fairy- 
land ; but gradually the scenes change. A worn 
party returning is met, and brave words are 
exchanged. 

Finally high above we beheld the silvery dome 
of Mont Blanc all aflame with the rosy splendor 
of the early sunlight. On the way is seen the spot 
where in 1820, Dr. Hamel's three guides were lost, 
and forty years afterwards, they were turned up by 
the ice five miles from the scene of disaster. 

Six hours more brought us to the last stage of 
the difficult journey, a slow and chilling task, as 
many steps had to be cut in the ice ; but the slope 
lessens, a few more earnest strides, and the summit 
was surmounted. It is a narrow ridge three hundred 
feet long, and 15,781 feet or nearly three miles 
above the sea. Here Professor Tyndall spent 
twenty hours in scientific observations. 

" Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains, 
They crowned her long ago, 
On a throne of rocks in a robe of clouds. 
With a diadem of snow." 

In sight immense Mount St. Gotthard forms the 
centre of a crescent shaped chain of mountains 
called the Alps, which are clothed with perpetual 
snows and glaciers. They cover southern, south- 
eastern and central Switzerland, or fully one-half of 
the surface of the country. The Alps are largely 



TRAVELS, 257 

of primitive rocks ; rock crystals, and garnets are 
found, and sometimes particles of gold among the 
river sands. The drainage of Switzerland is by the 
rivers Rhine, Danube, Rhone and the Po, into the 
North, Black and Mediterranean seas respectively. 

Switzerland abounds in clear and beautiful 
lakes, and though midway between the Equator 
and the North Pole, the climate presents most vio- 
lent contrasts. In high Swiss latitudes, no week 
passes without a snow storm. The area is 15,261 
square miles, about twice the size of Massachusetts. 

The guides pointed out the Hospice of St. Ber- 
nard at the summit of the Pass leading from Mar- 
tigny to Aosta, Italy. Near a pretty blue lake are 
two buildings belonging to this Hospice, which was 
founded in 962 by St. Bernard, who early devoted 
himself to the good of humanity. 

The Monastery won celebrity and great wealth, 
and enjoyed the protection of Pope and Emperor. 
In 1480 it had lands in Sicily, Flanders and England, 
but finally political disputes and changes reduced 
its holdings to almost nothing. Its resources are 
now small, and in aid of the Hospice regular collec- 
tions are made In the Swiss Cantons. Rulers of 
every age from before Christ down to Napoleon 
have marched armies past the Hospice of St. Ber- 
nard over the Alps. 

The Brotherhood of St. Bernard now consists of 
forty self-sacrificing members, who labor in this 
high altitude from young manhood, each as long as 
he is able, none more than fifteen years, and then 



258 TRAVELS. 

find an asylum at a subsidiary house below at Mar- 
tigny. The brothers can accommodate seventy-five 
persons with beds. They have a deep cellar for 
wine, meats and vegetables, which with hay, wood 
and other necessities are brought up several miles 
from the valleys below. Many horses are kept 
busy hauling wood, which is an expensive article. 
The monks prize highly a piano, which was a pres- 
ent from the Prince of Wales. From 15,000 to 
20,000 travelers annually cross the St. Bernard Pass. 
No charges are made, but strangers give as they 
like. Here where gifts should be generous, it is 
astonishing to find what small amounts are placed 
in the contribution box of the Hospice. 

Sagacious St. Bernard dogs guide strangers on 
their journey over this Pass of the Alps. Usually 
five or six great dogs live at this Hospice. In very 
stormy seasons travelers wait on either side of the 
Pass, not far from the summit for a man and faith- 
ful dog to come from the Hospice to conduct them 
safely. The St. Bernard dog, though often hidden 
in the deep snows, except his tail, never misses his 
way. He seems endowed with human reason. 
A keen sense of smell enables him to track 
and discover travelers buried in the heavy snows. 
So great is the labor and so cold the climate in the 
high Alps, that these noble dogs live but a few 
years, owing to frequent attacks of rheumatism. 

If the travelers' feet are frozen, they are rubbed 
with snow or ointment, and when necessary a monk 
amputates them. Unfortunate victims of storms 



TRAVELS. 259 

and avalanches are placed in a low building, or 
morgue not far from the Hospice, their bodies being 
put in the posture found. The dead cannot be 
buried in the frozen and rocky soil. Because of the 
rapid evaporation at this height, these bodies do 
not decay but dry up. On some bodies after a 
score of years, the clothes remain. In a walled 
enclosure of the morgue is a great bed of bones, 
bleached and broken, the accumulation of centuries. 

From Chamouny to Martigny is a day's journey. 
Leaving the Vale of Chamouny you come to a dis- 
mal mass of rocks covered with forest trees, over 
which a narrow carriage way is cut along ledges 
high above a torrent, and often through tunnels. 
This Tete Noire, black head or top, is an interesting 
Pass, and much frequented by tourists. A heap of 
stones indicates the summit, which affords fine 
views of distant snow-capped mountains. Thence 
the way leads past an occasional inn, and rapidly 
descends amidst scattered rocks, through dark for- 
ests, past cascades and finally, the road shaded with 
chestnuts, guides to Martigny, a busy little town in 
the Rhone Valley. 

The deposits of the Rhone are slowly filling the 
upper part of Lake Geneva. We climbed the cat- 
aract-like Rhone Glacier. This and other glaciers, 
are embedded in high mountains, and form the 
sources of the Rhone River, which the ancients 
said " descended from the gates of eternal night, at 
the foot of the pillar of the sun." 

By train and coach we visited the Baths of Leuk, 



26o TRA VELS. 

high up among the mountains. Leuk has small 
flat-roofed houses in the midst of green fields, and 
is sheltered by lofty lime-stone rocks. Thousands 
of invalids come here yearly for hot-water baths, the 
thermal springs being impregnated with lime. We 
laughed when we saw the bathers, in their long 
white flannel dresses, who pass four or five hours 
together in a common bath, tables floating before 
them on which they rest their books, write, play 
cards, or sip their tea and coffee. 

Passing out of the village-gate opened by tiny 
boys, to each of whom we gave pennies, we began 
the ascent of the Gemmi Pass over most formidable 
rocks. We climbed for two miles along a spiral 
path skilfully hewn in the rocks at great expense. 
On the Gemmi summit, covered with snow, we 
stopped to blow the long Alpine horn, listen to its 
echoes, and enjoy magnificent views all about us. 

On every side miles of snow-covered Alps glit- 
tered in the sunlight. Then we passed a lovely 
lake, and at sunset stopped at a little mountain- 
cottage, and bought goat's milk, biscuits and honey 
for our supper. After a walk of twenty miles from 
midday to nine in the evening both of us very 
weary, we reached the sheltered village of Kander- 
steg, where we rested for the night. For break- 
fast we had fresh brook trout, hot biscuits and 
honey. 

The coach next morning traveled over a white 
hard road winding through a green valley to Spiez. 
The farms in the Swiss valleys are irrigated, and 



TRAVELS. 261 

well kept by the thrifty and economical inhabitants, 
who manage to make a living on very little soil. 
Scarcely a blade of grass can be found among the 
vines, or a weed on the farm, or a dry twig among 
the trees. The Swiss are still primitive in their 
ideas of tools for farming, using most awkward 
plows, and flails for threshing grain. The drive 
through the country reveals chestnut, walnut, cherry, 
plum, apple and pear trees. From the pear a nat- 
ional drink is made, not unlike American cider. 

The journey from Spiez is by a small steamboat, 
six miles up Lake Thun, a lovely sheet of water, 
past pretty villas and gardens along the shore, 
which is precipitous and clothed with vineyards, 
while higher up are forests. Now and then you 
see a picturesque old Chateau. Double-decked 
tramway-cars hurry us from Darligen to Interlaken, 
between lakes, a pretty town between Lake Thun 
and Lake Brienz, which are two miles apart. Pos- 
sibly both lakes were one sheet of water in former 
days, but the Arve to-day connects the two. Here 
is a most attractive Swiss valley and bright green 
meadows, and shade that does not overshadow. 
Scattered in the valley are neat little villages, and 
villas, perched on the hill-sides. The principal re- 
sort of Interlaken is the Hoheweg, a handsome 
avenue of walnut trees, flanked with convenient 
hotels, tempting shops, gardens and fountains. Of- 
ten these hotels are illuminated at night. Inter- 
laken attracts fashionable visitors in summer, chief- 
ly English, Germans and American. The Whey- 



262 TRA VELS. 

Cure offers inducements to some, others discover 
here a place for rest, while many find Interlaken a 
convenient starting point for excursions in the ad- 
jacent valleys and mountains of the Oberland. 

In the background is Jungfrau, with her shroud 
of eternal snow. In the foreground are green 
meadows with tall grass and flowers. Residents 
sometimes witness the magnificent phenomena of 
avalanches. Vast masses of snow and ice accu- 
mulate on the upper portions of these mountains, 
and as the summer advances, by their own weight, 
they slide down with irresistible force. The snow, 
broken ice, loosened trees, stones, and dirt, resem- 
ble a rushing cataract, and the echoing thunders 
arouse the denizens of the valleys. 

Two hours walk from Interlaken brought us into 
the quiet valley of Lauterbrunnen, which is half a 
mile wide. On both sides of a glacier stream is 
situated the scattered and picturesque village of 
thirteen hundred inhabitants. We stopped to 
examine a Swiss house, the projecting roof of 
which was covered with big stones to hold the 
shingles in place, and wooden pegs were used 
instead of nails. 

The Swiss never lay aside their habits of work 
and economy, and do not forget their love of homes 
and liberty. The rural architecture of Switzerland 
is a delightful study. In it we find the last vestige 
of the style employed in constructing houses in the 
Middle Ages. How delicate and artistic the taste 
often displayed by the Swiss on their rustic homes ! 



TRA VELS. 263 

Wood admits of combinations not possible with 
stone, for both useful and picturesque effects. In 
Germany, Sweden, France and England, the num- 
ber of chalets and villas is rapidly increasing, and 
a great architectural movement not easy to define 
is noticeable in America. 

So high are the cliffs on either side of the valley 
that in winter the sun does not appear till near 
noon. On every side little streams flow from the 
brow of precipices, the loftiest of which is called 
Staubbach Falls, or Dust Stream, which makes a 
leap of eleven hundred feet. The stream is scat- 
tered by the breezes into spray-like dust, and in 
the sunshine reveals a thousand tiny rainbows. 
Wordsworth called Staubbach " a sky-born water- 
fall." When the clouds are low the dainty stream 
seems to spring from the sky itself. 

We attended an Assembly at Unspunnen, at 
the foot of high mountains, to witness the national 
games in progress, such as wrestling, throwing 
stones, etc. It is said that in years gone by at a 
ruined castle at Unspunnen lived Burkhard, one 
of the lords, whose daughter Ida was beloved by 
a knight. A feud existed between her family and 
his, so the young knight after dark scaled the walls 
of the castle and carried off his ladylove. After 
years of family strife, the knight unarmed returned 
bearing to the castle the infant son of Ida. Burk- 
hard seeing Ida's pretty baby was melted to 
tears, received her husband with open arms, and 
made him the heir of his vast possessions. This 



264 TRAVELS. 

day of reconciliation between the lord and knight 
was celebrated ever after by games. 

We met milk-dealers with big cans strapped to 
their backs on their way to town. The wealth of 
many Swiss peasants is largely in their cows, which 
in summer they send high up the mountain sides 
to feed, where wives, or daughters watch the 
animals all day, knitting meantime. The best 
cows give from twenty to forty pounds of milk per 
day. Excellent cheeses are made three thousand 
feet above the sea. Cows at night are summoned 
home for milking by an Alpine horn, which is very 
melodious in the hands of a Swiss. 

At Brienz a stop was made among the wood- 
carvers, of whom there are six hundred in this 
little village. Peasant women visit Brienz, to sell 
their wares to tourists. They offer for sale wooden 
bears, chamois, and tiny Swiss chalets, some con- 
taining musical clocks. Picture frames are adorned 
with edelweiss and other Alpine flowers. 

The Swiss earnings are meager, a whole family 
barely getting enough for a scanty living. The 
Swiss are hard workers. Sometimes they gather at 
country balls for merry-making where groups of 
old people sip their wine in the gardens and shy 
lads chat with Oberland maidens. 

At the quaint town of Brienz a diligence is taken 
for Lucerne. The coach drawn by four horses car- 
ries passengers inside and outside. A winding 
ascent brings the diligence beneath overhanging 
rocks which seem to threaten destruction, while in 



TRAVELS. 265 

fact they furnish safety and shelter. It is common 
for Swiss boys and girls along the route to emerge 
from crevices in the rocks and offer for sale flowers, 
fresh berries on cabbage leaves, or a cup of sweet 
milk. 

The summit once gained, the crack of the driver's 
whip sends the horses at a rapid rate past quaint 
villages, and blue lakes for twenty-five miles to 
Lucerne on the Lake of the four forest Cantons. 
The population of twenty thousand is strongly 
Catholic. This locality is unsurpassed in Europe 
for scenery. To be able to spend the summer in 
Lucerne and the winter in Florence would be near 
the perfection of living. Well preserved walls and 
watch towers of mediaeval times, and the slender 
twin spires of the Hofkirche, give Lucerne a pictur- 
esque appearance. The large hotels in the summer 
are crowded. Other public buildings skirt the clear 
lake. The city is built on both sides of the River 
Reuss, the waters of which are clear and green as 
they issue from the lake with the swiftness of a tor- 
rent. Here in little boats from up the lake come 
the peasants with farm products. 

The situation of Lucerne, amphitheatre-like, is 
between the twin citadels, Rigi on the left, and Mt. 
Pilatus on the right ; they invest it with a peculiar 
charm. The banks of the Reuss are connected by 
four bridges, one a new broad iron structure paved 
with stone. On the right stands the hoary water 
tower, Wasserthurm, where are kept the archives 
of the town. 



266 TRA VELS. 

This tower long ago was used as a lighthouse, 
(lucerna) whence Lucerne the name of the city. 
Two of the bridges are covered, and adorned with 
nearly two hundred pictures representing The 
Dance of Death, and events in Swiss history. On 
the summit of old Mt. Pilatus storms gather and 
brew. An old legend asserts that when Pontius 
Pilate was banished from Galilee he fled to Mt. 
Pilatus and in bitterness of remorse drowned him- 
self in Lake Lucerne. 

We walked outside the gates of the city to see 
the celebrated Lion of Lucerne. It was executed 
in 1 82 1 in memory of twenty-one ofihcers and 760 
soldiers of the Swiss Guard, who fell in defence of 
the Tuileries, August loth, 1792. The dying lion 
is resting in a grotto, transfixed by a broken lance, 
but defending to the last gasp, with his paw, the 
golden lilies of France. It was hewn out of the 
natural sandstone after a model by the Danish 
Sculptor, Thorwaldsen. The rock which bears the 
names of the Swiss heroes, with the inscription 
"To the valor and fidelity of the Swiss," is over- 
hung with creeping vines. A spring at the top 
flows over the ledge and into a pool at the base, 
forming a mirror which reflects the colossal sculp- 
ture. It affords proof that in true art the simplest 
idea executed by a masterhand never fails to pro- 
duce grand effect. 

We took passage on a small steamer for the pretty 
village of Vitznau, a few miles up on the North 
shore of Lake Lucerne to climb Mt. Rigi. The 




THE LION OF LUCERNE. 



TRA VELS. 26y 

railway takes Its passengers past the little church, 
up among gardens and fruit trees, and still higher 
up the famous Rigi. We pass through a long tun- 
nel, then on frail bridges over deep ravines. The 
Rigi Railway is only four and a half miles long with 
a maximum grade of one in four. Like the rail- 
ways up Mount Washington and Mt. Vesuvius, it 
is very steep. Between the outer rails are two 
extra rails close together, and provided with teeth, 
on which cogs of the locomotive work. The train 
has but one carriage, which is capable of holding 
fifty persons. This observation car is placed in 
front of the engine, unconnected by couplings, so 
that it can be stopped immediately in case of dan- 
ger. En route up the mountain, which is a mile 
high, enormous blocks of conglomerated rocks are 
passed, which show the structure of the Rigi group. 
In the winter frosts cleave and split the rocks, and 
a century ago a torrent of mud and rocks descend- 
ing from Rigi, covered acres of land, destroyed 
many homes, and the inhabitants barely escaped. 

The summit of Rigi, Queen of Mountains, is fin- 
ally reached, and one of the most bewildering views 
in Europe bursts upon the traveler. Beyond are 
the snow-clad Alps extending over a hundred miles, 
glittering like masses of diamonds in the setting sun. 

Lake Lucerne below flashes back the sunlight as 
from a great silver cross, and fertile valleys enclose 
a dozen other lakes. Streams in the distance look 
like silver threads which disappear in the Black 
Forest that darkens the horizon. 



268 TRA VELS. 

We decided to spend the night on Rigi to wit- 
ness the gorgeous sunrise over the Alps. Wlien 
the mountain is free from mist all the guests are 
awakened an hour before sunrise by an Alpine horn, 
and like disciples of Zoroaster, or sun-worshippers, 
the tourists in negligee and blankets gather to adore. 
Streaks of light first appear in the far East, giving 
a pinkish glow to the Alps as the stars fade out of 
the sky. 

" Night tapers are burnt out and jocund day, 
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops." 

Forests, lakes, and villages are bathed in an ever 
deepening color, till all the Alps seem aglow with 
golden sunlight. An hour later mists have gath- 
ered about Mt. Rigi, 

" Through the parting clouds only the earth can be seen, 
Far down 'neath the vapor the meadows of green." 

At times, when the vapors rise, a screen is formed 
opposite the sun, which reflects Mt. Rigi and its 
people in gigantic proportions, the whole encircled 
by a halo of rainbow colors. 

From Mt. Rigi we looked away to Altorf where 
stands the Statue of William Tell, occupying the 
very spot, it is claimed, where the intrepid archer by 
command of the tyrant Gessler shot the apple on 
his son's head. 

In 1307 Gessler lifted his ducal hat on a pole and 
commanded all who passed to do his hat reverence. 
This act fired the hearts of the heroic Swiss. The 
women said, *' Must we mothers nurse beggars at 
our bosoms, and bring up maid-servants for foreign- 



TRA VELS, 269 

ers ? What are the men of our mountains good for ? 
Let there be an end to this." 

William Tell treated the plumed-cap of Gessler 
with contempt, and the enraged governor ordered 
Tell to be put under arrest. Tell's liberty was of- 
fered if he could shoot the apple from his son's 
head. Fortunately the father's arrow hit the 
apple. When he told Gessler that had he injured 
the child, he had reserved an arrow for Gessler's 
own heart, Tell was detained in custody, and loaded 
with irons. The interior of Tell Chapel, on the 
shore of the lake, presents in frescoes the complete 
story of this famous patriot. Gessler fearing that 
the friends of Tell would liberate him, resolved to 
carry him across the lake to his own castle at Kiiss- 
nacht. A violent storm on the lake compelled the 
tyrant to loose Tell's fetters, so that he might be 
employed to manage the oars. . Quickly Tell 
brought the boat close to a rock that jutted into 
the lake, and leaped ashore. With one foot he 
pushed off the boat, and then fled into a mountain 
defile, where afterwards he lay in wait for Gessler 
and shot him. 

Then the patriot peasantry flew to arms, and a 
band of fourteen hundred totally routed an Aus- 
trian Army of twenty thousand sent to conquer the 
audacious rustics, as Austria styled the rebellious 
Swiss. In the sacred Tell Chapel, once a year on 
Sunday, mass is performed, and a sermon preached 
to large numbers of patriots, who come from neigh- 
boring shores in gaily decorated boats. 



2/0 TRA VELS. 

The trip from Lucerne to Lake Maggiore, Italy 
is io8 miles, through the wonderful St. Gotthard 
Tunnel. Over twenty miles of the distance is 
bored through solid granite, the tunnel itself being 
nearly ten miles in length. In its construction the 
French contractor, M. Jules Favre, sacrificed his 
life. He harnessed the torrent of the adjoining 
river Reuss, thereby forcing into the tunnel com- 
pressed air for boring the granite. Workmen la- 
bored in this dark mountain for over seven years. 
The cost of the tunnel $13,000,000 was furnished 
by Germany, Italy and Switzerland. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Lands of the Midnight Sun. Sweden and Norway. Stock- 
hohn. Christiania. The University. King Oscar II. Nor- 
wegian Bridal pair. Carioles. Manner of Living. Dress. 
John Ericsson and Ole Bull. Saeters, Torghattan. Lofoden 
Islands. Lapps. North Cape. Midnight Sun. Viking Ships. 
West Coast of Greenland. Esquimaux. Polar Expeditions. 
Franklin. Greely. The Rescue. The North Pole. 

In July, 1882, on our fifth trip to Europe, we 
visited the lands of the Midnight Sun. The Mid- 
night Sun is a most wonderful phenomenon of 
nature. At the Arctic Circle 1600 miles south of 
the North Pole, the sun is seen once every year 
above the horizon for twenty-four consecutive 
hours ; at the North Pole for six months. Coun- 
tries within these limits are called Lands of the 
Midnight Sun : the same is true of the Southern 
Hemisphere. 

The Union colors of Sweden and Norway are 
red, yellow and blue. The Swedish flag has a yel- 
low cross on a blue field. The Norwegian flag a 
blue cross on a red field. The Union colors 
appeared on both flags, in place of the stars on 
ours, when these countries were united in 18 17. 

We sail as did Sir John Franklin, from London. 
One hundred and fifty special expeditions have 



2/2 TRA VELS. 

been made into the higher northern latitudes, some 
to discover a shorter road to India, some to dis- 
cover the North Pole, and many more to find lost 
expeditions. The North Sea that isolates, and 
the high latitude, make Sweden and Norway seem 
remote. 

The sister kingdoms of Norway and Sweden lie 
side by side, Sweden on the east and Norway on 
the west, and form the Scandinavian Peninsula. 
It is the largest country in Europe, except Russia, 
though their joint area (290,327 square miles, Nor- 
way 122,280, Sweden 168,042) only equals the 
single state of Texas. Sweden on the east, is 
about three fifths of the Peninsular. Land grad- 
ually rises from the Gulf of Bothnia on the east to 
lofty headlands on the west. The country abounds 
in large clear lakes, rapid rivers, forests of fragrant 
fir and pine, snow capped mountains and grand 
glaciers. The north is rocky and treeless, inhabited 
by bands of savage Lapps and Finns who were 
driven there by the Teutonic race. Our journey 
extends from Upsala above Stockholm to Christi- 
ania, capital of Norway, and then iioo miles along 
the coast to Ihe North Cape. 

Stockholm the capital of Sweden, has a popula- 
tion of 200,000. It is built on both shores of a 
strait connecting Lake IMalaren, with the Baltic. 
Picturesque homes cover bold and rocky islands, 
and their heights afford beautiful views of palaces 
and museums. Shipping fills the harbor, and 
canals remind you of Venice. Little steamboats 



TRAVELS. 273 

ply ill every direction. The National Museum 
possesses the finest collection of antiquities of the 
bronze age, 1000 years before Christ, and the iron 
age about the time of the Christian Era. Statues 
of Swedish heroes, shrubbery and flowers adorn 
public parks and places of amusements. One park 
is eighteen miles in circumference. It has music 
every evening. In front of the National Museum 
is a famous bronze group, the " Belted Duelists " 
by the talented Swedish sculptor Molin. It repre- 
sents the murderous Scandinavian duels in which 
combatants were bound together by their belts and 
fought with knives. As such duels usually ter- 
minated fatally for both parties, wives carried 
winding sheets to banquets where troubles were 
likely to arise. 

In Stockholm you are shown the blood bath 
fountain where Nov. 8, 1520, Christian 11. of Den- 
mark had eighty-two nobles including Erik Johans- 
son, the father of Vasa, excuted. On this occasion 
a beautiful boy who had seen his father's head cut 
off and the blood dripping, in childish accents said 
to the executioner ; '* When you cut mine off, 
please don't get my collar dirty, for mamma will 
whip me when I get home." The executioner's 
heart was moved, he secreted the child and 
sent him home but the ungracious king had him 
beheaded for such womanish tenderness. 

June 24, in Sweden is a merry Mid-summer 
Festival Day. The sun rises before three o'clock, 
and delays its setting till after nine. Boughs of 



274 TRA VELS. 

birch decorate horses and wagons, and vessels at the 
docks. Green festoons hang on gates, porches and 
windows. On mid-summer's eve young men and 
maidens bring evergreens and flowers to adorn the 
May-poles, and about these the peasants dance and 
sing with glad shouts and merry-making. They 
come to their capital, wearing unique and pretty 
costumes. The Scandinavians are very fond of 
bright colors, scarlet, red, blue, yellow, and pink. 
In beautiful Dalecarlia, a province of central Swe- 
den, live 200,000 peasantry, a manly and honest 
people. They are proud of their history and cling 
tenaciously to their old customs, and costumes. 
Usually in Sweden we see flaxen haired girls, with 
rosy cheeks and blue eyes. Dressed in becoming 
caps, with highly colored neckwear, dress and 
apron, their white waists with long sleeves appear 
in lovely contrast. 

The feeding of birds, especially at Christiania, is a 
beautiful custom in Sweden and Norway. Bunches 
of oats are placed on fences and trees and roofs of 
houses, and he is poor indeed who cannot spare a 
farthing for the birds. On Christmas, horses, cattle, 
sheep, goats and pigs receive a double amount of 
food, which speaks volumes for the natural goodness 
of heart of Scandinavians. No race is more kind, 
courteous, and hospitable. The population of 
Sweden is over 4,000,000. 

Our journey is now across Sweden by rail to 
Christiania, the capital of Norway, founded by 
Christian IV. in 1624. Population 125,000. Owing 



TRA VELS. 275 

to several destructive fires and rebuilding, the city- 
presents a substantial appearance. It stands at the 
head of a picturesque fjord, enlivened with islands, 
and at the foot of sloping pine clad hills. In sight 
on an eminence is the palace of King Oscar, a plain 
building overlooking a very beautiful landscape. 

The Norwegians are very democratic. The cities 
of Norway elect one-third the Storthing or parlia- 
ment, and the country two-thirds. A bill may 
become a law without the sanction of the king if 
passed three times. In this way in 1821, the heredi- 
tary titles of the nobility were abolished. 

The University in classical style of architecture 
was founded in 181 1. Fifty professors lecture free 
to 1000 students. Education in Norway is compul- 
sory and much prized. Christiania also has other 
educational and charitable institutions. Teachers 
after 30 years of service are pensioned in both Nor- 
way and Sweden. 

Behind this building may be seen two viking 
ships taken in 1867 and in 1880 from ship graves or 
mounds of blue clay. The ship drawn on shore 
became a mausoleum for the dead chieftain with his 
personal effects, bronze belt and harness mountings, 
iron and copper kettles, wooden cups, tubs and bed- 
steads, the bones of horses and dogs, and the feath- 
ers of peacocks. 

Near Christiania, is Oscarshall, English Gothic in 
style, eighty feet above the lake, and surrounded 
by a fine park. The interior is rich with paintings 
and statuary. By the treaty of Kiel which settled 



2/6 TRAVELS. 

the European quarrels growing out of the Napole- 
onic wars, Norway was taken from Denmark and 
given as a reward to Sweden. The Norwegians 
declared themselves independent, but Sweden 
easily took possession. The Swedes consider the 
Norwegians their inferiors, while the Norwegians 
claim that they who descended from the old Vik- 
ings are the peers if not superiors. Politically the 
union of these kingdoms is represented in the per- 
son of Oscar II., for each has a constitution, minis- 
try and laws of its own. Recently the king wisely 
averted a crisis by making concession to the Nor- 
wegians, who long for a republic. 

Oscar II., born 1829, crowned 1873, king of Sweden 
and Norway, is brother of the late King Charles XV. 
The two were sons of Oscar I., and grandsons of 
Charles John XIV., known as Marshal Bernadotte 
under Napoleon. King Oscar is an artist, musician, 
poet, the best educated ruler in Europe ; on the 
whole a better scholar than politician, though he 
has displayed much tact in harmonizing the liberty- 
loving, and troublesome Norwegians. As King of 
Sweden and Norway he receives annually about 
$640,000. Of the four sons Gustave is heir appar- 
ent, and married to Princess Victoria, daughter of 
the Grand Duke of Baden. They have three sons. 
She is skillful as an artist, statuary of her making 
being shown in the royal palace. 

The Swedes are exceedingly fond of blossoms. 
Many flowers were given to some young people 
leaving a Swedish watering place. We judged them 



TRA VELS. 277 

to be bride and bridegroom. The lady's hand and 
an inverted parasol were filled to overflowing. 
Later we learned that it was a Swedish custom thus 
to give largely of flowers. The Swedes wear little 
jewelry and cultivate simplicity of manners and 
dress. Politeness and amiability are national traits. 
Gentlemen lift their hats to each other, and usually 
hold the hat in hand while in the presence of ladies. 

In peasant life, the dress of a Norwegian bridal 
pair is novel ; the brides usually wear bright 
colors and beads. The men are honest and good, 
descended from Norsemen and Vikings, who were 
free in ancient days, when Europe was in slavery. 
As soon as a man is engaged the name of his lady 
is put below his own on calling cards. Bethrothal 
rings are exchanged and worn after marriage by 
both men and women. Hence you always know 
an engaged man or woman. Bridal parties are often 
seen crossing pretty lakes in gaily trimmed boats, 
or marching through the little villages, men leading 
the way to the church, and playing the Hardanger 
violin, which has extra strings, the music being like 
the Highland bag-pipe. 

The silver crown of the bride used at the altar is 
exchanged for the graceful white cap, the bride's 
long hair being cut short after the marriage 
feast is over. Each guest makes the bride a present 
of money. 

The best time for travel in Scandinavia is in the 
summer months. At Christiania we hire carioles, 
which, with harnesses, we charter for our entire 



2/8 TRA VELS. 

journey, across country 140 miles to the west coast 
of Norway. The cariole is a light gig with or with- 
out springs, with seat for one person. The baggage 
is strapped on behind. A boy or girl also usually 
sits behind and drives. Steamboats carry us across 
the many lakes. 

The excellent roads are made by the govern- 
ment, and kept in repair by the peasants ; fre- 
quently a heavy burden. We make the trip with 
little yellow ponies, changing horses often. Animals 
are treated very kindly ; we recall a farmer at a 
depot, who put his overcoat over a cow attached to 
his cart. The expenses of traveling are moderate ; 
for money they use crowns worth about one shill- 
ing each, an ore being one-hundredth part of this. 
The ride through the country is a delightful one. 
We stop at a Norwegian station. The peasants 
give us welcome. Some enquire after their friends 
in America, all expecting to go there sometime. 
One night at Nystuen a candle in a bottle guided 
us to our lodgings, with bed and pillows made of 
hay. Boiled salmon and flat bread are common 
food. Home life is full of affection ; everywhere 
the people are courteous and honest. Little boys 
raise their hats and girls courtesy as you pass them 
on the streets : this politeness is taught them in 
the schools. People never lock their houses. The 
turfed housetops are red with geraniums or white 
with daisies ; flowers are in every window, and in 
iron urns on all of the graves in cemeteries. 

One can often ^rather flowers with one hand, and 



TRAVELS. 279 

snow with the other. Near the village on the 
mountain side are seen cultivated patches of 
ground. Many villages in Norway nestle under 
the mountains. People raise barley, rye, oats, pota- 
toes and grass on every valuable foot of soil. 
With continuous sunshine cereals ripen in less 
days than in lower latitudes. Laborers earn twenty- 
five cents a day, sometimes more. A common 
sight in Norway, when rains are frequent, is a 
lattice-work of sticks, among which fresh cut grass 
is interwoven, so the wind can blow through and 
dry it quickly. 

A single snow storm and the earth becomes 
white and pure as if by a miracle. The people of 
high northern latitudes have winter months of 
semi-darkness where the days drag heavily. At 
school the children study by candle or kerosene 
light. At home the people are fond of music. 
Mothers spin and knit. In one corner stands the 
hand-loom on which the bedding and clothes were 
woven ; in another corner is the cupboard painted 
bright red and yellow. Up stairs is an open barrel 
of Norsk beverage. It is sour milk replenished 
every day; fermenting, it will intoxicate. The 
hostess said " We clean our barrel twice a year ; 
some people rarely ever." The taste was like 
moldy vinegar. 

At Christmas an evergreen tree with fluttering 
ribbons and burning tapers stands in every home. 
As in the tropics nature surpasses art in her rich 
plant architecture and tinting, so in Arctic regions 



28o TRAVELS. 

the fingers of nature veil the earth with frost lace 
of exquisite patterns. Everywhere in the sunshine 
glisten frozen dew-drops and sparkling crystals. 

Especially delightful in Norway are the thirteen 
days of Yule, following Christmas. At every farm 
house is a feast or dance, which neighbors attend. 
The young have their frolics, and betrothals take 
place. On these occasions, heir-looms of the family 
are in use, oddly carved wooden spoons and 
vessels, ancient tankards with Runic inscriptions, 
mounted with silver and gold, once used by 
Vikings. 

One of the finest excursions in Norway is from 
Odde to the Skjaeggedalsfos. The roar of the 
water greets your ears before you reach these falls. 
The lake in the foreground is so high and cold that 
no fish or live thing can exist in it. Dwarf birch 
trees fringe the rocks, that shut in the lake over 
which you must pass to approach these falls, which 
are considered the grandest in Norway. The mist 
and foam rise in great clouds, and tiny rainbows are 
often seen in the spray. The mind better com- 
prehends the great height of the fall, 500 feet, by 
comparing it with the farmhouse seen on the shore 
of the lake. Norway is called the " Land of water- 
falls." Gaard is the Norwegian word for farm- 
house. Frequently these gaards are so near prec- 
ipices that little children have ropes attached to 
their ankles, the other end pegged down to keep 
them from falling over. 

On the Hardanger Fjord a maiden of the Odde 



TRAVELS. 281 

wears no cap ; unmarried, her hair falls down her 
back in two large plaits. The mother of the 
maiden also wears a picturesque dress. The large 
linen cap is only worn by married women. The 
bodice is often of bright scarlet or crimson ; some- 
times blue with embroidery and flower work. The 
bead belt is very pretty. A brooch of old Nor- 
wegian silver is worn at the neck. The Norwegian 
filigree work of silver wire used as jewelry was once 
much sought by tourists. 

Among her distinguished men, Sweden and Nor- 
way may boast of John Ericsson, and Ole Bull. 
Ericsson, a famous Swedish engineer, was early in 
life a friend of Ole Bull. They drifted apart and 
did not meet again until each had become famous. 
Bull had charmed hundreds of thousands over the 
civilized earth. Ericsson had won the admiration 
of the scientific world, roused the North to enthu- 
siasm, and startled the nations by inventions in 
naval warfare. Bull once invited Ericsson to 
attend his concert in New York. Ericsson declined, 
saying he had no time to waste. Later Bull 
pressed him urgently and said, " If you do not 
come I shall bring my violin here and play in your 
shop." Ericsson replied gruffly '^ If you do I shall 
smash the thing." 

Here were two men the very opposite of each 
other. Bull's curiosity was aroused to know what 
effect music would have upon the grim matter-of- 
fact man of squares and circles. So taking his 
violin with him he went to Ericsson's shop. He 



282 TRA VELS. 

had removed the strings, screws and apron, so that 
the violin would seem to be in bad condition. As 
he entered the shop, Bull called his attention to 
certain defects in the instrument, asked Ericsson 
about the scientific and acoustic properties, passed 
into a discussion of sound-waves, tones and semi- 
tones, etc. To illustrate his meaning, he replaced 
the strings, and, improvising a few chords, drifted 
into a rich melody. The workmen charmed, 
dropped their tools and stood in silent wonder. 
He played on and on, and when he finally ceased, 
Ericsson raised his bowed head, and with moist 
eyes, said '' Do not stop. Go on ! Go on ! I never 
knew until now what there was lacking in my life." 
Ole Bull, one of Norway's famous musicians, was 
born at Bergen on the Atlantic coast. Sent to the 
University of Christiana, he was dismissed because 
he took charge of an orchestra at a theatre. Later 
he entered the University of Gottingen to study 
law, but fled the city on account of a duel. In 
Paris he was reduced to such misery that he threw 
himself into the Seine. Rescued, a kind lady 
enabled him to appear in public as a violinist. He 
won and lost several fortunes. This story is told 
of him. He once visited Berlin, with a letter of 
commendation to the King of Prussia from his 
daughter, the Duchess of Mecklenburg, He made 
his first call upon the superintendent of the Royal 
Opera House, who was offensively patronizing. An 
hour was appointed on the following day for 
another call at the Opera House. 



TKA VELS. 283 

Ole Bull presented himself promptly at the 
designated hour. 

"Where is your violin?" demanded the 
superintendent. 

'' In the case," was the cool reply. 

'* And where is the case ? " 

''At the hotel." 

'* But did I not ask you to play for me?" 

'' Excuse me, sir," answered Ole Bull, *' I could 
not think you were in earnest. I play either for 
money or for honour, and in this case neither is in 
question." 

" But it is impossible for me to present you to His 
Majesty without having heard you," replied the 
man, annoyed at the artist's independent manner. 

" If the request of the Grand Duchess," rejoined 
Ole Bull, " is not a sufficient recommendation to 
His Majesty, her father, I am content to leave the 
city " — and he did leave Berlin on that day. 

On the road between Hardanger and Sognefjord 
is the hamlet, Gudvangen, in a narrow valley, so 
shut in that it is not reached by the sun's rays 
throughout the whole winter. On both sides are 
lofty precipices, down which leap a dozen water- 
falls, some making single leaps of 500 feet. 

Near the head of the North Fjord, within 200 
miles of Bergen, and near the coast, lie many 
magnificent snow covered mountains, which are 
curiously intersected by arms of the sea, called 
Fjords (feeyords). In the Bergen district are 
Nord fjord, Sogne fjord and Hardanger fjord, 



284 TRAVELS. 

with average lengths of one hundred miles. 
Two fresh-water lakes are seen below, and a saeter 
in the foreground. Here maidens pass the ten 
weeks of summer tending the cows and goats while 
hay is made in the valleys. The saeter life is a 
happy one for the Norwegian girl. After her work 
is done, the leisure time is spent on some green knoll 
singing with companions of neighbouring saeters. 

The lake of Loen is in a valley at the head of 
Nord Fjord while all about you are snow-covered 
mountains. In the distance is a great glacier, which 
is the source of the water that forms this exquisite 
lake. No moving thing except the boat and a few 
water-fowls are to be seen for miles. The clear 
atmosphere, perfect reflection, and rich colouring of 
rocks and mountains is remarkable. Every square 
mile of Norway possesses its lofty mountain, clear 
lake or noble glacier. The best rivers for salmon 
fishing are leased at high rents mostly to wealthy 
Englishmen. 

The route from Molde leads to the island 
Torghattan. As the steamer approaches, it resem- 
bles a hat floating on the sea. It is pierced half 
way up by an aperture, through which the blue sky 
is seen. The height of this curious natural tunnel 
is 60 feet at one end and 233 at the other. The 
view of the sea with countless islands and rocks is 
impressively beautiful. A Norwegian story goes, 
that a certain giant shot an arrow with great force 
against the enemy ; the arrow missed the enemy, 
but pierced the mountain. 



TRAVELS. 2S5 

Among the famous Lofoden Islands, we find a 
small settlement, and the Norwegian flag, resem- 
bling the English Union Jack, gives us welcome. 
The chief attraction of Norway is above the Arctic 
Circle, the midnight sun, and the journey is made 
by steamboat, defended from the Atlantic storms 
by thousands of small and barren islands. Thus 
you sail on the clearest and smoothest waters, to 
the North Cape, as in a safe river, for iioo miles 
along the west coast of Norway, with hundreds 
of snow-clad peaks about you. 

The Lofoden Islands stretch west and south into 
the Atlantic like a horn, which are a maze of mount- 
ains, bays, straits interspersed with thousands of 
rocky islets, and excellent fishing barks. The rocks 
abound in a luminous green moss. The moon is 
no longer silvery, and the whole scene by midnight 
light, presents a strange and weird appearance. 
Picturesque Tromso with 6000 inhabitants is higher 
up the coast, and opposite is the Lapps' encamp- 
ment, by a stream in mid-summer, watching rein- 
deer feed on grass and lichens. Their huts for 
winter are built of stone and sodded over; some- 
times with ice. The Lapp is very short, and has 
low forehead, high cheek bones, narrow eyes, blunt 
nose, full lips and yellowish complexion. He is 
fond of tobacco. The Lapps number about 25,000 
and the Finns 25,000 more. The latter are superior 
both physically and intellectually. The Lapp 
burns dwarfed birch and junipers under kettles of 
meat and coffee. The reindeer is his horse, his 



286 TRAVELS. 

food, clothes, shoes and gloves. The milk is very 
rich and much cheese is made. Sinews divided 
hold together the skins of reindeer for clothes, the 
hair being turned inside. Skins of reindeer and a 
few poles make the Lapp traveling tent. 

Reindeer are gray, larger and more clumsy than 
the deer, and yet fast ones will travel 150 miles in 
a day. Their branching horns weigh forty pounds 
and are shed in the spring. Reindeer number 
400,000. Rich Lapps own from one to five thou- 
sand each, and their mark is branded on the ears 
and recorded in court. A reindeer lassoed, trem- 
bled before us. Its joints crackled like electricity 
escaping from a dynamo. When loosened, he 
leaped the torrent and joined his companions on 
the mountain side. The shy Lapp maidens weave 
fancy garters on tiny bone looms. To purchase 
one of these primative looms required no little 
diplomacy. 

Hammerfest is the northernmost town in the 
world. Population 2500. Its trade is largely with 
Russia, and Spitzbergen expeditions. Shops with 
bear skins, walrus tusks and Lapp costumes are 
attractive, but the smell of cod liver oil is offen- 
sive. 

" And there uprose before me 

Upon the water's edge, 
The huge and haggard shape 

Of that unknown North Cape 
Whose iorm is like a wedge." 

Longfellow. 



TRAVELS. 287 

The North Cape is the northernmost point of 
land in Europe, Gjesvaer is nine miles behind us, 
and 1600 miles north west of London. And here 
you may telegraph to America. At Gjesvaer we 
hired four sailors and their boat was taken in tow. 
Here the Russian steamer put us ashore, having 
furnished provisions, wood and canvas. The dark 
gray slate rock before us is furrowed by deep clefts, 
and rises loio feet above the sea. Fragments of a 
glacier are seen clinging to its side. We encamp 
in the bed of an old glacier on the east side of the 
Cape for several days. One morning the broad 
bay was all ruffled with foam, myriads of little fishes 
leaping out of the water to escape wide opened 
mouths of shoals offish below, while flocks of thou- 
sands of seagulls swooped down to capture the 
helpless fishes. In the midst of this severe strug- 
gle for life we dropped in our lines with splendid 
results. 

Our only fear was after thirty minutes fishing, 
that we should sink the boat. We caught large 
numbers of turbot, a favorite fish with the English, 
and cod that weighed from ten to twenty-five 
pounds each. We saw at sea a whaling ship, 
capturing whales by shooting harpoons from 
cannons. 

Part of the Gulf Stream which impinges against 
Gibraltar, moves northward, preventing the water 
along the coast of Norway from freezing. Every- 
where cod and herring abound — especially off the 
Lofoden Islands. During the three months fishing 



288 TRAVELS. 

20,000 fishermen In graceful boats catch 25,000,000 
fish. These are dried on wooden frames, or on 
rocks. Cods* heads are boiled with sea-weeds, and 
are useful for fodder for cattle — so much for a fish 
story. Professor Huxley says it would require 
1,000,000 barrels of herring to supply the cod on 
the Norwegian coast with one bieakfast. 

July 31 is the last day of the season for seeing 
the sun at midnight above the horizon. As we 
climb slowly up the steep precipice, following a 
small stream fed by a glacier, we gather tiny 
English forget-me-nots, and butter-cups. When 
we reach the promontory a cloud hangs over the 
horizon ; beyond the black curtain are the unknown 
regions guarded by a wall of ice, that bar all 
approach. The bleakness and loneliness of the cape 
and sea deeply impress you. Neither chirp of 
bird nor noise of insect is heard. The watch says 
fifteen minutes before midnight, and yet it is light 
as day. Instinctively you draw your coat about 
you, as the chill of a departing day is in the 
atmosphere. 

As the sea captain watches the sun reach the 
zenith, so you look upon the same sun creeping 
lower and lower along the horizon till it touches 
the water, and ceasing to descend, you have the 
midnight sun. Like a huge ball of fire it bowles 
along the waves. Suddenly the rich glow of a sun- 
set mingles with the brilliant coloring of a sun- 
rise, that heralds a new-born day at the unnatural 
hour of midnight. To a believer in the Bible no 



TRA VELS. 289 

sight more vividly suggests Heaven, where there is 
'no night, than the Lands of the midnight sun. 
No wonder the ancients worshipped the Sun. It is 
related of a white haired Norseman of unblemished 
integrity, a Judge of the Icelandic Republic, who 
had come to his death-bed, that he would worship 
no other God but He who made the Sun, as he 
must be mightier than Thor and Odin, the Gods of 
his fathers. 

He begged that he might be carried out under 
the blue heavens that he might pray the Father of 
Light to deliver his soul from the darkness of 
death. 

" Count that day lost whose low descending sun 
Views from thy hand, no noble action done." 

Nine hundred years ago a hardy race of sailors 
lived in the inlets and fjords along the coast of 
Norway. These men were called Vikings from 
''Vik," meaning bay. Harold the Fair wished to 
marry a beautiful Norse maiden. She refused till 
he should drive all the petty princes out of Nor- 
way, which he did, forcing the Vikings to flee in 
ships. These were clinker built and of oak, with 
one square sail ; black and yellow shields were for 
ornament and not for defense. An oar called the 
'' steer-board," hanging in a rope, was used as a 
rudder. Hence the word " Star-board." Some of 
the ancient boats carried forty oars, and were man- 
ned by eighty men. Charlemagne wept when he 
saw these ships approach Paris. The Norsemen 



290 TRA VELS. 

sailed east and west, scorning a peaceful death, and 
courting Odin's '' Bath of blood." They flourished* 
their battle axes in the streets of Constantinople, 
served Caesars and Czars, and conquered Northern 
Britain. They founded a republic in Iceland, and 
colonies in Greenland. 

These old Viking ships rose high and gracefully 
from the water at both ends, with snakes' heads at 
the bow and stern, and sea-gulls at the top-mast. 
Lief, the lucky, had a crew of 25 men, as he started 
south from Greenland oh a voyage in which he discov- 
ered Labrador, a rocky and barren country. Fur- 
ther on he found land covered with wood and white 
sand, probably Nova Scotia. The water abounded 
in salmon and other fish, and still further south, 
grapes were found, and the land called ** Vin- 
land." 

Several expeditions were made, but finally these 
early adventurers returned to Greenland. Near 
the entrance of Ericsfjord we see an old Church ; it 
is seventy feet wide and one hundred and forty feet 
long, built nine hundred years ago by order of the 
Pope of Rome, forty miles up Ericsfjord on the 
west coast of Greenland. The walls are from ten 
to twenty feet high. Three doors and several win- 
dows are on the south and west sides. Nearby 
are evidences of nine other buildings. They were 
warmed with water from boiling springs. Lief is 
credited with introducing Christianity, and the 
monument just erected in Boston is in honor of his 
discovery of America, hundreds of years before 



TRAVELS, 291 

Columbus was born. It is thought that Columbus 
gained hints of the new World from a visit to Ice- 
land, which he made fourteen years before he 
sailed. 

On the west coast of Greenland are a dozen 
Danish Colonies, 250 white people, and 10,000 
Esquimaux. As you approach these settlements 
the eye first catches sight of rocks ; then black huts 
with white window blinds and dogs asleep at the 
door. The inhabitants are very hospitable, often 
furnishing whalers and Arctic Expeditions with 
native helpers, dogs, and coal. 

The Esquimaux women wear large hoods of seal 
skin, in which they carry their children, and great 
boots which they use also for carrying their babies, 
or the goods stolen from white men. The women, 
like the men, are small in stature, less than five feet 
high. They have small black eyes and coal black 
hair. Men have several wives if they choose, and 
women are regarded as inferior beings. 

Next to their boots made of skin, they value 
their dogs. 

In summer as the Esquimaux travel for fish or 
seal, they use a light or movable tent. For winter 
it is made of sod, stone, and often of ice. Trans- 
parent seal skin is used for windows. The Kyak or 
boat is judiciously placed out of reach, otherwise 
the dogs, always nearly starved, would devour it. 
The Esquimaux in his Kyak can make his boat 
turn a complete somersault in the water, first mak- 
ing it water tight around his body. The name 



292 TRA VELS. 

Esquimaux is derived from an Indian word, which 
means ** eaters of raw fish " . They call themselves 
*' Innuit " , meaning *' the people " . The men eat 
while sitting or standing in a circle, and pass a large 
piece of meat either cooked or raw and bloody, 
from one to another, each seizing a morsel in his 
teeth, and cutting it off with a knife, to the eminent 
peril of his nose. They wash seldom, live often on 
blood, and fat is their delicacy. They are simple, 
well meaning, and generally trusty. 

Higher up the coast we see the white bears, 
who roam principally on fields of ice. They eat the 
seal, walrus, birds and their eggs, and can swim and 
make long springs in the water. The males live in 
the marshes usually till November, and then go out 
to sea on the ice. They are very affectionate and 
sagacious. When their young are killed, they 
usually stay by, licking their wounds. These bears 
will attack men in a boat, and in one instance, at 
least, compelled the crew to desert it. 

On the west coast of Greenland, a little north of 
Disco Island, the same latitude (71) as the North 
Cape, we see the head of a mighty glacier, which 
stretches many miles inland, filling the valley with 
solid, moving ice, the same as in Switzerland, where 
the Mer de Glace moves a thousand feet yearly or 
three feet per day. When we deposit in bank more 
money than we draw out in the year, accumulation 
results. In many years, a large accumulation ; so 
in these Northern latitudes, more snow falls than 
thaws in the summer, and in centuries the valleys 



TRA VELS. 293 

are packed with ice. The glaciers are gradually 
thrust down into the ocean, and mighty waves 
break off huge masses of ice, which float away. 
The noise of breaking is like the roar of heavy 
artillery. 

These giant icebergs, recalling the chalk cliffs of 
England, reflect the midnight sun. These are 
floating mountains of ice, measured by miles, rugged 
and picturesque. The masts of the ship serve as a 
standard of measurement. Above the water we see 
only an eighth part of the entire bulk, weighing 
often hundreds of millions of tons. 

Captain Ross saw icebergs aground in 1500 feet 
of water. The glittering hard blue ice often assumes 
grotesque architectural designs, sometimes a trium- 
phal arch at sea, or imaginary castle. Winds and 
currents float icebergs down Bafifin Bay, past Labra- 
dor, and frequently before they disappear in the 
warm Gulf Stream, they produce the horrors of a 
shipwreck on the Atlantic. 

Carlyle asks : 

" What is life ? A thawing iceberg 
On a sea with sunny shore ; 

Gay we sail, it melts before us, 
We are sunk and seen no more." 

The continuous sunshine rapidly breaks up the 
ice, and snow thaws from the mountain sides. The 
moon appears pale, and the stars are not seen. 
Because of this drift of ice from the North, bold 
navigators hoped to find a northwest passage 
leading to India or the North Pole. The names of 



294 TRA VELS. 

Parry, Ross, Franklin, Kane, Hall and Nares have 
become household words. The fate of Sir John 
Franklin aroused the sympathies of the civilized 
world. In 1845 Franklin and 138 persons left the 
Thames to find the N. W. Passage. Fifteen years 
afterwards a record was found by Captain McClin- 
tock (at Cape Victory) which said that Franklin died 
June nth, 1847. Search expeditions were made that 
cost England and America $10,000,000. All were 
fruitless, comparatively, till our own Lieut. Fred- 
erick Schwatka in 1879 rn^^l^ a sledge journey of 
3251 miles north from Hudson's Bay and discovered 
the remains of forty of Franklin's party on King 
William Land. Mournful graves were found ; also 
parts of boats and sledge and drag rope, at which 
the heroic fellows tugged until they fell down and 
died in their tracks. The body of Lieut. John 
Irving, one of Franklin's officers, was recognized by 
a silver medal and brought back. For sixteen days 
the average temperature was 100 degrees below 
freezing point. 

A portrait bust and tablet of Franklin are in 
Westminster Abbey. He was the youngest of a 
family of twelve, was destined for the church, but 
early showed great fondness for the sea, walking 
twelve miles for the sake of looking upon the ocean. 
Entering the British Navy at fourteen, he fought at 
Trafalgar and captured a gun-boat for the British 
at New Orleans. His successful Arctic voyages 
won him gold medals and degrees. Tennyson 
wrote his epitaph : 



TRAVELS. 295 

" Not here : the White North has thy bones ; and thou, 

Heroic sailor soul, 
Art passing on thy happier voyage now 
Towards no earthly pole." 

Other explorers have had varied experiences. 
Captain DeLong passed through Behring Strait and 
was crushed in the ice. His survivors escaped up 
the Lena River through Siberia, St. Petersburg, 
BerHn and thence to America. Baron Nordenskiold 
also passed Behring Strait and was the first and only 
explorer to make the northeast passage and on to 
the North Cape, thence to his residence in Stock- 
holm. Reclaimed the reward of 25000 gilders off- 
ered three centuries ago by the Dutch Government. 
Within the 80 degree circle surrounding the North 
Pole is an area two thirds the size of the United 
States. Besides discoveries at Spitzbergen and 
Franz Josef Land, later discoveries have been made 
up through Smith Sound by Hall (187 1) Nares (1876) 
and our own Greely. 

Lieut. Charles Weyprecht of the Austrian Navy 
promoted the establishment of the fourteen Inter- 
national circumpolar stations, sustained by eleven 
nations, and Lieut. A. W. Greely was placed in com- 
mand of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, com- 
posed of twenty-two persons, mostly soldiers. July 
7, 1881, the Proteus left St. John with favoring 
breezes, passed through Smith Sound by Cape Sa- 
bine and reached Discovery Bay Aug. nth. 

Here at Fort Conger, Greely located near a fortu- 
nate coal seam. Sledge parties journeyed 3000 miles 



2g6 TRA VELS. 

in various directions. In the spring of 1882 Lieut. 
Lockwood with Sergeant Brainard and Fred Chris- 
tiansen travelled 276 miles along the northwest 
coast of Greenland, actual travel 1000 miles. On 
May 13th, 1882, this heroic expedition, not only 
added to our knowledge 25 miles of Greenland 
coast line but planted the stars and stripes (83°, 24') 
four miles higher up the globe than the Union Jack 
of Great Britain, the point farthest north ever 
reached up to that time. 

The Lockwood party could see that the interior 
was broken with fjords and snow capped mountains. 
Far in sight, northeast was a low land which was 
called '' Cape Washington." To the north extended 
a broad expanse of snow and ice out as far as the eye 
touched the Polar horizon. After two years at 
Fort Conger in the interest of science the Franklin 
Bay Expedition, not being relieved by the govern- 
ment as promised, made a hazardous journey south- 
ward on steam yacht and ice floe, and finally went 
into permanent quarters at Camp Clay on Cape 
Sabine. Here a terrible winter was spent. At 
length the government dispatched the Bear and 
Thetis, a third ship was added by Queen Victoria, 
the whole under Command of Captain, now Admiral, 
Schley. Twenty-five thousand dollars had been 
offered by the Government for the rescue of the 
party. Up the west coast of Greenland the three 
vessels raced with Scotch whalers. Greely's party 
in the meantime had been reduced well nigh to 
starvation. Ounce by ounce the stores had been 



TRA VELS. 297 

dealt out till heroic Lockwood and several others 
had died. For weeks the survivors lived on shrimps, 
(500 made a gill,) lichens, moss and stewed seal-skin 
garments, till despair settled upon the camp. Near 
mid-night, Sunday, June 22nd, 1889, Greely heard 
the whistle of the Thetis and sent Long to set up 
the distress flag, made of worn white flannel and 
blue bunting fastened to an oar. The relief ship 
saw the flag as they rounded the promontory. 

A steam launch carried strong men to the shore, 
and soon the survivors' tent was reached. A single 
pole supported the dirty canvas as it flapped in the 
fierce gale. Lieutenant Emory shouted, " Is that 
you Greely"? " Yes, cut the tent", came in feeble 
response. The tent was slit from top to bottom. 
What a sight ! Only six survivors, wasted to skele- 
tons, pale and sunken faces, scraggy hands, eyes 
glassy, voices and minds weakened. Quickly res- 
toratives were administered, warm clothes furnished, 
and on stretchers Greely and his companions were 
borne to the ships. 

Greely repeatedly inquired *' Who are my res- 
cuers" ? and seemed delighted that they were Amer- 
icans. The sad story in detail is still in the public 
mind, and the Government has properly promoted 
Lieutenant Greely to be General Greely. The people 
call him '* Old Probabilities", though he is still 
young. Greely inclines to the belief that the North 
Pole is the centre of an ice-capped land in a great 
ocean that never freezes. Within 400 miles of the 
North Pole he found vegetation abundant, grass. 



298 TRA VELS. 

moss, lichens, poppies, fuschias and violets, and 
many small birds and animals. 

Shall we not hope that some brave, thoughtful 
American lad is already born, who will add to the 
long list of unparalleled achievements of the XlXth 
Century, the patriotic deed of first placing the stars 
and stripes on the North Pole, where it will float in 
the Arctic breezes in sight of the Universe to all 
posterity? 

Note: The farthest north of Fridtjof Nansen, a 
Norwegian, 86° 4', 240 miles from the Pole, was 
reached April 7th, 1895. An Expedition under the 
Duke of the Abruzzi, cousin of the present King of 
Italy reached 86° 33', nineteen miles farther than 
Nansen, April 24th, 1900, Capt. Cagui with two 
guides and a young sailor, Canapa, being in charge 
of the sledge journey. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI. 

De Soto and his Famous Discovery. The Great River. Cap- 
tain Eads' Jetties. Prairie Dogs. Wyoming. Black Hills. 
The Grand Canon of the Colorado. Great Salt Lake. The 
Mormans and their Church. Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young. 

Of my four trips to the Pacific Coast, the first 
was made in the winter of 1877-78. The two fol- 
lowing articles were written for the Cleveland Leader. 

Ferdinand De Soto, a gallant and adventurous 
Spanish officer, having served with great valor under 
Pizarro in his successful campaign against Peru, 
returned to Spain, where he met with a most flatter- 
ing reception from Charles the Fifth. He wedded 
the woman he early loved, and assisted by his half 
million fortune brought from Peru, he became quite 
the attraction at the King's court. Soon, however, 
he again set sail with six hundred ambitious follow- 
ers for the vast unexplored fields of Florida, then 
thought to be the new El Dorado, in search of more 
gold and fame. His courageous command traversed 
the everglades of Florida, experienced untold hard- 
ships with fierce Indian tribes, winter storms, thick 
forests and marshes, and malarial diseases, till the 
spring of 1540, when De Soto discovered the Miss- 
issippi River, called by the Indians *' The Father of 



300 TRA VELS. 

Waters." Here he died, hundreds of miles from 
his young wife, in a wilderness valley, destined to 
be inhabited by more people than any other valley 
on the globe. His faithful followers pronounced 
their eulogies by their tears, the priest performed 
the solemn burial rites, and De Soto's body, wrapped 
in his mantle, was buried in the stillness of mid- 
night in the middle of the Mississippi. He did not 
find the gold he sought, but a burial more wonder- 
ful. His dreams of wealth, however, are to-day 
being realized beyond the Mississippi. 

De Soto's great discovery forms a natural water- 
line apparently midway between the Atlantic and 
Pacific Oceans, dividing the United States into two 
parts. The Pacific division, in fact, contains nearly 
three times as much land as the Atlantic division, 
while at present fully six times as many people 
live east of the Mississippi as west of it.* 

Waters gathered in a cluster of small lakes in the 
highlands of Minnesota, 1,700 feet above the sea, 
form the sources of the Mississippi River, which 
flows southward 3,000 miles into the Gulf of Mexico, 
a distance nearly as great as from Bunker Hill 
Monument to the Golden Gate, or from Boston to 
Liverpool. The Mississippi is navigable for 2,200 
miles to the Falls of St. Anthony, has 1,500 sizeable 
tributaries, and drains millions of the most fertile 
acres in America. 

The Missouri, or muddy river, its chief tributary, 
rises in the Rocky Mountains and is 3,100 miles in 
^Census 1870, 



TRAVELS. 301 

length; the longest in the world. It is navigable 
from the Gulf for 3,950 miles. 

The Mississippi averages in width a half mile for 
2,000 miles above its mouth, and varies in depth 
from 50 to 150 feet. A half million cubic feet of 
water per second pass New Orleans. Immense 
quantities of soil and sand are annually floated 
toward the Gulf of Mexico. It is estimated that 
north of the original Gulf there has been deposited 
a plain 500 miles long, 50 miles wide and 250 feet 
deep, and also a delta reaching into the Gulf, which 
is 150 miles long, 90 miles wide, and nearly a mile 
in depth, a gigantic work of filling which must have 
required the services of the Mississippi for 100,000 
years. 

Lately the rich valleys of the Mississippi and its 
great tributaries have been opened to the commerce 
of the world by the persevering Captain James B. 
Eads, who, at the outset risking his own fortune, 
has finally accomplished one of the engineering 
feats of the century in cutting a deep and perma- 
nent channel through the once impassable sand-bars 
below New Orleans. 

To bridge the Mississippi and Missouri has also 
taxed engineering ability to the utmost. The 
suspension bridges at Niagara Falls and Cincinnati 
cost $400,000 and $1,800,000 respectively. The 
suspension bridge being built between New York 
and Brooklyn, with a single span of 1,595 feet, and 
a total length of over a mile, is estimated to cost 
$12,000,000 to $15,000,000 while the magnificent 



302 TRA VELS. 

stone and steel bridge and its approaches across the 
Mississippi at St. Louis cost $10,000,000 and over a 
hundred lives. Above St. Louis other expensive 
bridges have been constructed across the Mississippi 
and Missouri, over which civilization swept west- 
ward even beyond the Rocky Mountains. 

The study of a nation's mountains frequently 
will reveal the character and possibilities of its 
people. 

The bleak and rugged hills of New England were 
uninviting to our Pilgrim Fathers, but proved pro- 
vidential, as character thus cradled and trained was 
needed in a nation when early summoned of God 
to challenge the despotism of kings. New England 
hills and mountains have since become seats of 
learning and centers of manufacturing for the nation. 

The Allegheny Mountains are not mere water- 
sheds, but immense store-houses of iron ore and 
coal for the Atlantic States. No mountain ranges 
are so large or important on the continent as the 
Rocky Mountains, which, with the Wahsatch and 
Sierra Nevada, the Coast and Cascade ranges extend 
from the British possessions to Mexico and reach 
inland an average of a thousand miles, covering a 
third of our entire territory. 

The problem of their effect on climate, crops and 
character is being slowly and surely worked out. 

In these times of unprecedented indebtedness and 
wide spread financial failures, we must not overlook 
the evidences that in these mountain vaults, securely 
forged by volcanic fires, have been preserved pre- 



TRA VELS. 303 

cious metals in sufficient abundance to place the 
United States, in the immediate future, at the very 
front in the business world. 

Beyond the Mississippi River are states and 
territories, out of which we could form three hun- 
dred and forty states the size of Massachusetts. 
Two days and a half travel from New York brings 
us to Omaha, on the Missouri River, and at noon 
we start for the *' Far West." 

The " Great American Desert," of our school-boy 
days becomes a myth as we steam up the rich 
Platte Valley of southern Nebraska, a territory 
larger than all New England. It is not strange that 
Nebraska and Colorado were able to make so mag- 
nificent a display of grains, vegetables and minerals 
at the Centennial. 

The former three grain-producing states, Michigan 
Illinois and Iowa, are already excelled by Nebraska, 
California and Oregon, which are to-day the grain 
granaries of America. 

The small and uninviting dwellings, dotting 
everywhere these broad, treeless and rolling prairies, 
rich and productive though they be, present a strik- 
ing contrast to the large and home-like farm build- 
ings of older states. 

In western Nebraska we were much interested 
in the Prairie Dogs, thousands of which are in 
sight, especially at Prairie Dog City. Here they 
seem to have pre-empted several hundred acres of 
Government land on both sides of the railroad. They 
live in little mound-houses, a foot or a foot and a 



304 TRA VELS. 

half high, made by the dirt removed from their 
burrows. 

These tiny mound-builders are about the size of 
a red fox squirrel ; in color, sandy brown. They 
fatten on roots and grasses. At the approach of 
danger they stand on their hind feet or sit on their 
haunches and give a short signal bark, which sends 
all their comrades to the entrance of their homes, 
into which they instantly flee if the foe becomes 
troublesome. 

A ride of four hundred and sixty miles, and we 
enter Wyoming Territory, which is fifty per cent 
larger than Nebraska, and abounds in many unex- 
plored mountains. The Union Pacific Railroad 
alone, owns in this single territory an area of coal 
fields greater than the entire anthracite coal fields 
of the State of Pennsylvania. They extend along 
the road for four hundred miles. The coal is superior 
for fuel, making steam, and for manufacturing pur- 
poses. 

Sherman stands 8,246 feet above the sea. A 
slight exertion reminds one of the scarcity of oxy- 
gen in the atmosphere, a loss however, that is fully 
compensated by a remarkable clearness of vision. 

In the absence of rugged and precipitous rocks 
enroute, it is difficult to realize that we stand on 
the tip-top of our boy ideal of the Rocky Moun- 
tains ; but it must be true, for two hundred miles 
to the north we can clearly see the famous low 
Black Hills which stand on the very boundary line 
between Dakota and Wyoming Territories. Elk 



TRA VELS. 305 

Mountain is seen 100 miles to the northwest, Long's 
Peak and Grey's Peak 75 miles southwest, and 
Pike's Peak 165 miles to the south. Silently and 
grandly these peaks lift their hoary heads 14,000 
feet above the ocean, and stand faithful guard over 
hidden treasures and rich valleys. 

Reluctantly leaving Sherman, we come to Lara- 
mie, where the Government has a well-guarded 
fort. A hasty toilet before day-light is well 
rewarded by a wild ride at full speed down a wind- 
ing- canon to Green River. The constellations in 
this high altitude take on unusual brilliancy. As 
day-light comes gradually on, the outlines of lofty, 
cragged mountains become more distinct. 

Nothing could be more exciting and romantic 
than to watch the setting and resetting a half-dozen 
times of the full moon behind these peaks, broken 
against the horizon, as we thundered through the 
gorges in an apparent race for victory with the 
impetuous torrent below. 

Green and Grand rivers unite in southeastern 
Utah to form the grand canon of the Colorado 
River, the mysteries and dangers of which were so 
interestingly explored by Major Powell of Chicago, 
in 1869. 

At the Green River Station are seen a mountain 
lion, restless in his cage, well preserved heads of elk, 
antelope and deer, also magnificant specimens of 
quartz and other crystals. Here first are seen tidy 
and attentive Chinese waiters. 

Four hundred and fifty miles through southern 



306 TRA VELS. 

Wyoming Territory brings us to Evanston in north- 
ern Utah. Here a superintendent's permit secures 
a seat in the engineer's cab. Entering Echo and 
Weber Canons — the grandest part of the ride 
across the continent — we have no longer need of 
steam. A steady hand is on the air-brake, and 
down grade we go at fearful speed, following Echo 
Creek in its wild course through narrow defiles, 
widening into gorges and deepening into frightful 
chasms. The roar and rush of the train fills the 
deep recesses of the ravine with echoes, as we glide 
past enchanting views of strange, time-worn rocks 
of red sandstone and granite, from a thousand to 
two thousand feet high on our right, suggestive of 
ancient cathedrals and feudal castles. Now our 
eyes are riveted on natural bridges or hanging rock ; 
then on the cliff, where the Mormons in 1857 ^^"^^ 
prepared huge boulders to roll down upon the heads 
of General Johnson's soldiers. 

We pass Witches' Cave and Pulpit Rock, and 
after crossing and re-crossing Echo Creek thirty-one 
times in twenty-six miles, we stop for breath at 
Echo Station. Again, six miles down Weber River, 
we enter the " Narrows" and notice the "one-thou- 
sand-mile-tree" near the track, and on our left the 
** Devil's Slide " formed by Nature up the steep 
mountain, from two ridges of granite, one hundred 
feet apart and very high. 

As the darkness gathers, the engine seems pos- 
sessed of intelligence as it clings securely to the 
road-bed cut in the precipitous sides of the moun- 



TRA VELS. 307 

tain ; and when the dangerous passage appears 
closed for the night, it unerringly finds its path 
across bridges, through lonely tunnels, and the 
" Devil's Gate " till we reach Ogden, the western 
terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad. Doubtless 
Greeley's early stage ride with Hank Monk over 
the western mountains was exciting, but an engine 
ride down these canons cannot be surpassed. 

At dark we leave Ogden for Salt Lake City and 
ride thirty-seven miles south over the Utah Central 
Railroad, which skirts the eastern shore of Great 
Salt Lake. In its broad, blue waters stand massive 
island mountains covered with snow, which under 
the bright, full moon, take on a peculiar grandeur. 
Distant objects in rarefied air are strangely decep- 
tive and appear ever '' so near and yet so far." 

The lake is 100 miles long, 50 broad and has no 
outlet. It is daily fed with over 40,000,000 cubic 
feet of fresh water, which is equalized by the com- 
pensating force of evaporation, amounting to a mil- 
lion tons every twenty-four hours. The history of 
this evaporation is written in the vast forests of 
Bitter Root Mountain and other Western spurs of 
the Rocky Mountains to the north. 

Salt Lake has been thought by some to be a lost 
arm of the ocean ; hence its saline qualities, which 
others have attributed to springs, some hot, which 
flow over salt deposits in the mountains, and con- 
tribute water with a salt saturation of 20 parts in 
100. 

The water of the Atlantic is 3 per cent, salt, of 



308 TRA VELS. 

Salt Lake 12 percent., of the Dead Sea 24 percent. 
This lake has been called the Dead Sea of America, 
and was not known to contain life until recently, 
when infusoria were discovered. P'ish and oysters 
transplanted into its waters die. Excellent table 
salt is made from desposits found in shoal water. 
Bathing in its buoyant waters is the delight of all 
tourists. But the charm and beauty of Salt Lake 
is its constant varying color. At times it is sky- 
blue, changing to deep emerald green, deeper and 
softer than old ocean ; mxore like the velvet carpet 
of earth in early spring. Old shore lines are written 
1,000 feet up the mountain ledges, which tell of a 
sea of marvelous dimensions in ages past. 

The Territory of Utah is twice as large as Ohio, 
or ten times as large as Massachusetts, and is peo- 
pled by ten thousand gentiles and one hundred 
thousand Mormons. 

The history of Mormonism, remarkable in faith, 
heroism, privations and persecutions, is written in 
the lives of two men, Joseph Smith and Brigham 
Young, both born in Vermont. A farmer boy, at the 
age of fifteen, was awakened at night, and beheld 
an angel of wonderful brightness, who informed 
him that he was to preach the gospel with power 
preparatory to the second coming of Christ and the 
gathering together of all Israel. Four years later, in 
September, 1823, the angel discovered to young 
Smith on Hill Cumorah, near Manchester, Ontario 
County, New York, a cemented stone box, contain- 
ing gold plates, eight inches long, seven broad, thin- 



TRA VELS. 309 

ner than tin, and bound by three rings into a vol- 
ume six inches thick. The pages were inscribed in 
reformed Egyptain, which Smith translated into his 
famous '' Book of Mormon " by the aid of trans- 
parent stone spectacles, also found in the box. The 
Book of Mormon was published in 1830, and is held 
by the Mormons as equal authority with the Bible, 
and, when in conflict, it always takes precedence, 
as the revelation is later. Historically, it attempts 
to account for the mound-builders and the early 
settlers of North America. 

After the confusion of tongues at the Tower of 
Babel, the Jaredites first crossed the Pacific in 
barges, and increased on our continent in numbers 
and wickedness, but finally perished by millions in 
fierce battle. In 600 B.C. sixteen persons reached 
the Chilian coast from Jerusalem, and, moving 
north, rapidly peopled North America. A portion, 
under a curse from heaven, became the ancestors of 
the North American Indians, while another portion, 
the Nephites, for centuries rendered service to God. 
After 1,000 years they too degenerated, and were 
nearly annihilated in a decisive battle around Cum- 
orah in Western New York. Mormon, a Nephite 
prophet, survived and inscribed on gold plates 
abridged records in possession of the Nephites which 
he concealed in Cumorah. 

The first church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day 
Saints was organized 1830 in Seneca County, New 
York. Missionaries began zealously to preach the 
new faith. Indians were to be converted : the 



3IO TRAVELS. 

millenium was to come ; and the New Jerusalem to 
be built in the heart of America. 

Converts multiplied, whom Smith led to Kirtland, 
Ohio, where a temple was built and a savings bank 
organized. Smith, the *' revelator," was tarred and 
feathered by a company of Evangelical Christians. 
His bank suddenly suspended, and with a few fol- 
lowers, he fled west at night, on horseback, hotly 
pursued by his creditors. Revelation fixed Inde- 
pendence, Jackson county, Missouri, as the site of 
the New Jerusalem. 

Brigham Young preached with success in New 
England. Hyde and Kimball visited England, and 
in the manufacturing, commercial, and especially 
mining cities and towns, made thousands of con- 
verts, many of whom began to flock to Missouri. 
Then the frightened border ruffians tarred and 
feathered the Mormon Bishops, confiscated their 
printing presses, and drove some 15,000 saints out 
to the State of Illinois, where, on the Mississippi 
River, the refugees built almost in a day the City 
of Nauvoo, " the beautiful," and a magnificent 
marble temple costing a million dollars. The 
Nauvoo Legion was organized with Joseph Smith 
as Lieutenant-General. This Legion exists to-day 
in Utah, 13,000 strong. 

Enraged justice procured the imprisonment of 
Joseph Smith and Hiram, his brother, at Carthage. 
The prison was broken into by a large masked mob 
and the Smiths brutally shot. 

Joseph Smith was thirty-nine years of age when 



TRAVELS, 311 

he died. He was a medium of extraordinary power 
and although deluded in his divine calling, acted in 
the sincerest good faith, as indicated by his firm- 
ness under tremendous persecutions. His calling 
was strongly confirmed by his early converts. Rig- 
don, Cowdery, the Pratts and Young. In Brigham 
Young, Smith recognized the gift of tongues and 
his successor. The martyred Joseph Smith became 
the seed of Mormon greatness. 

Mormonism is a conglomeration of parts of 
nearly every religious creed under the sun. Nothing 
has made it more odious than polygamy, coupled, 
as it early was, with slavery — both '' twin relics of 
barbarism." The Book of Mormon is doubtless a 
copy, with interpolations by Smith, of a historical 
novel, partly religious, written by Solomon Spauld- 
ing, a graduate of Dartmouth College and an ex- 
clergyman of Connecticut. When Smith's book 
was published, Spaulding's surviving wife and his 
friends immediately recognized the novel, the 
manuscript having been rejected and kept by a 
printer in Pittsburgh. After the death of Jos- 
eph Smith, who formulated the religious belief 
of the Mormons, Brigham Young became their 
leader, and supplied a temporal power. Iowa was 
traversed, and winter quarters occupied above 
Omaha on the Missouri River. 

Fremont's reports of the Great Salt Lake Basin 
first caused Young to make a pioneer visit, July 24, 
1847 ^^ Utah, and in the summer of 1847 he began 
that marvelous pilgrimage of 1,100 miles across 



312 ^ TRAVELS. 

alkali and sage brush deserts, under severest priva- 
tions, and yet with strictest discipline. The Saints 
were thoroughly organized in tens, fifties and hun- 
dreds, and their daily camps resounded with enthu- 
siastic praises of God for His goodness. The host 
passed out of '* emigration Caiion " into the dreary 
desert valley, and gladly encamped in sight of the 
dead sea on the banks of the new Jordan. Their 
bodies and animals were entirely exhausted, wagons 
and clothing worn out. Their reduced rations had 
scarcely kept body and soul together. It is said 
that when their leader announced that here they 
were to build the New Jerusalem, the helpless and 
disheartened multitude sat down on the sage brush 
desert and wept. But the untiring energy of Brig- 
ham Young was equal to any emergency. Booths 
and dug-outs sheltered his followers from the scorch- 
ing rays of the sun. Regular religious services 
enkindled the old enthusiasm, and the desert, by 
irrigation, was made to produce bountiful harvests. 
An emigration fund was started. Missionaries, 
without scrip or purse, traveled over Europe, Egypt, 
Palestine, Australia, the Islands of the Pacific, and 
more than two hundred thousand converts have 
been the result, one-half of whom are now residents 
of Utah. Thousands of converts, to whom the 
missionaries had pictured in glowing colors the city 
of Zion on the banks of the Jordan, with Israel's 
God and majestic mountains for its everlasting 
defence, left friends and ocean behind and heroically 
dragged hand-carts over burning sands and frozen 



TRAVELS, 313 

mountains. One company of six hundred men, 
women and children lost a fourth of their number 
in the snows of early winter. Most of the Saints 
are honest, simple-minded and hard-working people, 
formerly largely from England, but lately from 
Switzerland and the Scandinavian States, where re- 
cruiting churches are maintained. 

The vast immigration to Utah, and the tithings 
systematically collected, enabled Brigham Young 
to accomplish wonders. He has incorporated, 
thirty cities and eighty towns, the chief of which is 
Salt Lake City. It boasts 20,000 inhabitants, and 
is wisely located on an inclining base of a spur of 
the beautiful Wahsatch Mountains, 4,261 feet above 
the sea, and enjoys a charming outlook upon the 
smooth lake, extensive valley and the grand sur- 
rounding mountains. Miles of streets, 132 feet 
wide, are laid out at right angles. Refreshing shade 
trees and running brooks border the walks. The 
irrigated yards and gardens make the homes of 
rich and poor a paradise alike, with their profusion 
of fruit and flowers. Many elegant public and 
priyate buildings adorn the principal avenues. The 
Tabernacle is 250 feet long, 150 wide, 80 high, 
elliptical, has an egg-shaped roof, and will 
accommodate twelve thousand worsliippers. Its 
organ, made by the Mormons, is one of the 
largest that was ever built in America. The con- 
struction of the great temple, begun a dozen years 
ago, has become a part of the devoted Mormons' 
daily prayer and labor. The approximate cost of 



SH TRAVELS. 

foundation and first story is $2,000,000. The 
beautiful granite used is hauled twenty miles. The 
finished temple at St. George in southern Utah is 
consecrated to endowment purposes. In it polyg- 
amy is sanctioned with much formality. One 
hundred and fifty miles of the most difficult portion 
of the Union Pacific Railroad was built by Brigham 
Young. He constructed the Central Utah Railroad, 
also telegraph lines throughout the teritory, all of 
which center in his business office. The special 
pride of President Young was his co-operation store, 
60 feet wide, 300 feet long, with a capital of 
$800,000, and a business one year exceeding 
$5,000,000. The firm motto is " Holiness to the 
Lord." 

Wild mountain torrents everywhere have been 
tamed into valuable services of irrigation, and the 
wide, barren desert has been made to '' rejoice and 
blossom as the rose." 

In early years the Mormons disposed of surplus 
crops to gold seekers who replenished supplies 
at Salt Lake. For two years, Brigham, with charac- 
teristic Yankee shrewdness, made the support of 
Uncle Sam's army in Utah a rich bonanza to his 
people. The *' dreaded curse " became a pecuniary 
blessing. The Mormon Church discourages min- 
ing, and it has been carried on in Utah mostly by 
the gentiles, with a mineral production in 1877 ^^ 
over eight million dollars, of which five-eighths was 
silver, while agriculture is encouraged, and the same 
year produced several millions more. From a 



TRA VELS. 3 1 5 

pecuniary standpoint Yankee shrewdness and Eng- 
lish common sense have made Mormonism pay. 
Notwithstanding polygamy in Utah the Territory 
has more men than women. While Utah taxes 
women with polygamy, be it said to its credit that 
several years since it accorded to them the right of 
the elective franchise, and they cast in the Territory 
to-day nearly as many ballots as men, and have 
purified the voting places from oaths, vulgar talk 
and rowdyism. The Mormons are proud of what 
they call Orson Pratt's overwhelming victory in his 
discussions on polygamy with Dr. Newman for three 
days in the Tabernacle. They hold that Orson 
Pratt, with one foot on the Bible and the other on 
the Constitution of the United States, is impreg- 
nable. 

Brigham Young was President for twenty years 
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 
He was seventy-six years old when he died, and his 
funeral was attended by nearly a score of wives, 
more than three score sons and daughters, and not 
less than twenty thousand Saints. At death his 
individual property exceeded one million dollars. 



CHAPTER XVII 
BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI {Concluded) 

Central Pacific Railroad. From Utah to California. Sacra- 
mento. Oakland. San Francisco. Chinese. Bananza Prin- 
ces. Silver Mines. The Comstock Lode. How the Men 
Work the Mines. The Building of the Overland Railroad. 

From Ogden, Utah, the Central Pacific Railroad 
takes us close by the Northern shore of the great 
Salt Lake. The out-look by moonlight from 
Promontory Point upon this broad expanse of 
inland water was as upon a sea of burnished silver. 
Further on we crossed steep mountains, sixty miles 
of alkali beds and gray sand, now called the 
American Desert, and through sage brush, which 
covers vast fields for hundred of miles, and 
extends far beyond the rounded tops of almost 
countless mountain ranges. 

Pilot Peak is a welcome guide to the bottomless 
Humboldt Wells, where emigrants found cool water 
and green grass after the tiresome passage of the 
parched desert. The entire day's journey is down 
the Humboldt valley portions of which are divided 
into ranches. The run through Twelve-mile-caii- 
on pleasantly reminds one of the Palisades of the 
Hudson. We dine at Battle Mountain, so called on 
account of an Indian battle in this vicinity. 



TRAVELS. 317 

Hot springs are numerous along the river. After 
a day of an uninteresting ride, the cool fountains and 
grateful shade at Humboldt Station are most enjoy- 
able. Here a small mountain stream has irrigated 
forty acres of desert into an oasis of highest cultiva- 
tion. Humboldt Valley, and lake with no outlet, 
are left behind us at sunset and during the night 
we cross another desert, the Washoe Mountains, 
through the Truckee meadows, and out of Nevada 
into California. 

The beauties of Lake Tahoe and Donner Lake, 
called the " gem of the Sierras," are unsurpassed. 
In crossing the Sierras we go through forty-five miles 
of snow-sheds, varying from 100 to 1,700 feet in 
length, and costing $450,000. These sheds are 
almost continuous for the entire length of the deep 
snow lines. In a '' wet season " the snow falls on 
the summit from fifteen to twenty feet deep. The 
mountain peaks are covered with tall pines, spruces 
and cedars. Over the summit, the conductor 
obligingly stops the train at Cape Horn, that pas- 
sengers may enjoy the grandest view on tlie Cen- 
tral Pacific. A safe road-way for our train has 
been blasted out of solid rock near the top of a 
precipitous bluff, 2,000 feet from the chasm at our 
feet. The first foothold, where the train now 
stands, was gained by lowering from the cliff above 
a man and his pick, with a rope around his 
body. 

As the morning sun lifts the white, fleecy clouds 
out of the valley below, where they have nestled 



3 1 b TRA VELS. 

for the night, a stream, sparkling like silver, awak- 
ens and hastens toward the Pacific. Hills and 
valleys clothed in green are fragrant with the 
, aroma of spring. Further down the steep moun- 
tain we come to Colfax for breakfast. Here roses 
and callas are in full bloom, and January has sud- 
denly changed to May. From Colfax we ride in 
sight of lofty peaks, deep canons, and through 
and around countless foot hills, where placer gold 
mining has yielded fabulous returns. The hills are 
alive with the ground squirrel, the pest of the 
California farmer. 

Before noon we have safely dropped down over 
one hundred miles of steep railroad from the sum- 
mit in the pass of the Sierras, with its deep snow 
drifts and altitude of 7,017 feet, to Sacramento, 
the political capital of California, which . is but 
thirty feet above the sea. By circuitous rail route, 
we hasten through the productive Sacramento 
Valley to Oakland, with its charming homes, and 
thence seven miles over the bay we come to San 
Francisco. Thankful for our safe arrival at the 
Palace Hotel, after a seven days' ride of 3,377 
miles from the commercial capital on the Atlantic 
to the commercial capital on the Pacific. 

California became a state in 1850 and already she 
is one of the largest and most remarkable stars in 
our grand constellation of States. 

She has a hundred million acres of land, and is 
therefore twenty-five times as large as the state of 
Massachusetts : seven hundred miles of sea coast. 



TRAVELS. 319 

and a population of nearly a million, three-fifths 
natives and two-fifths foreigners. 

Gold was discovered by a little girl in February, 
1848, while Colonel Sutter's mill race on American 
Fork, near Sacramento, was being repaired. 

Neither the perils of long ocean voyages, nor 
the danger and privations of a six month's weari- 
some overland journey, could check the constant 
flow of adventurers from every quarter of the 
globe towards this new Eldorado. 

The Golden Gate was wide swung, as gold-seekers 
entered the bay, and the good and bad jostled 
each other in crowds on these golden shores. San 
Francisco became a city almost in a day. It was 
burnt and rebuilt a half-dozen times, with a total 
loss of over $20,000,000. 

Prices were enormously high ; board $8.00 per 
day; small stores rented for $3,000 a month. 
Whole squares were devoted to gambling. A 
vigilance committee administered law and, finally, 
chaos changed to order. High prices stimulated 
home production, and to-day youthful California 
stands first in the quality and quantity of fruits, 
cereals and vegetables per acre under cultivation. 
The total production of gold for thirty years was 
about $700,000,000- The lovely San Joaquin and 
Santa Clara Valleys possess a soil with capabili- 
ties of varied and profitable production, and a 
charm of climate such as cannot be equaled in 
America. The State has 55,000 acres planted in 
grape vines, 150 varieties ; even European specialties 



320 TRAVELS. 

growing in greater perfection. Ten thousand acres 
are planted to lemon trees, 60,000 to olives, al- 
monds and dates, and 100,000 acres to fig and 
orange trees. Silk culture is also very promising. 

The climate of California is all that invalids could 
desire. Winters are warm and summers cool — mean 
temperature fifty-four degrees. At any season of 
the year one can command, for a few hours' ride 
within the State, an Arctic winter on the moun- 
tains, or perpetual summer in the valleys. In 
January we found the hills and valleys green, and 
the parks and gardens of Oakland and San Jose full of 
growing semi-tropical plants and fragrant blossoms. 

A steamer for San Francisco leaves the Pacific 
Ocean and, passing through the Golden Gate, a 
magnificent ship-way five miles long by one broad, 
guarded by low hills, enters San Francisco Bay 
which is sixty miles long and capacious enough to 
float the navies of the world. Ten thousand ves- 
sels annually show their papers at the Custom 
House of San Francisco. This metropolis of the 
Pacific coast boasts of a population of 300,000, and 
is taxed for two-fifths of the property of the State. 
Its banks, during the late rebellion, paid gold on 
demand, and gold was the only standard of ex- 
change. 

Its fine public buildings and business blocks 
remind one of Chicago since the fire. Its many 
hotels and residences of railroad magnates give evi- 
dence of immense wealth. 

The Palace Hotel, begun by William C. Ralston, 



TRAVELS. 321 

Esq., and finished by Senator William Sharon, is 
centrally located, occupies an entire block (350x275 
feet) and is seven stories high. It has 775 rooms 
above first floor, 348 of which have bay windows. 
Imitating the Grand Hotel in Paris, a roomy court 
(144x84 feet) in the center of the block, covered 
with glass at the height of the building, accommo- 
dates carriages and furnishes abundance of light for 
the inside rooms. This central court is rendered 
still more charming by exotic plants, statuary, 
fountains and music. 

On the night of dedication, the seven tiers of 
carpeted verandas, twelve feet wide, which surround 
and look out upon this court, were brilliantly 
lighted, and peopled with more royal extravagance 
than was ever witnessed on the Pacific coast. San 
Francisco realized in the Palace Hotel, costing 
$5,000,000, furniture $1,000,000 more, the palatial 
dream of her petted Ralston ; but thousands of 
depositors in the Bank of California lost their hard- 
earned savings by its failure caused by his extrava- 
gant ideas. 

In striking contrast to these homes of elegance 
stand the cramped and filthy quarters of thirty 
thousand Chinamen on Dupont and adjoining- 
streets, called Chinatown. It is related that fully 
1,200 almond-eyed Chinamen were crowded into a 
single block ; but of late their sanitary condition 
has been much improved by city regulation. Chi- 
nese emigration began about 1 850, and the lowest 
estimate of the Chinese on the Pacific coast is 



322 TRA VELS. 

150,000. Many have passed eastward over the 
Sierra Nevadas, while others have returned home 
with their savings. We find them engaged in min- 
ing, fishing, washing and trading. Several will 
unite in working a mine or running a shop. They 
are mostly from the lower classes in China ; few 
physicians and mechanics, no priests or lawyers. 
All read, and as accountants are exact. As debtors, 
most are trustworthy. Much of Dupont street and 
adjoining localities have been over-run by their resi- 
dences and trade. Scores of once valuable blocks 
have been greatly depreciated by their proximity to 
Chinatown. The frugal Chinaman frequently owns 
his home or store. Dupont street is the Chinaman's 
Broadway, and on Sunday the street is as crowded. 
John Chinaman keeps store, market, restaurant 
and barber shop after his own peculiar fashion. The 
families are left behind in the celestial kingdom, to 
which their bones are dispatched if they die abroad. 
They import their own Joss houses, theaters and 
actors, the latter at great expense. Their plays 
recount the history of their kings, which reach back 
over a dynasty of 4,000 years. Frequently it 
requires weeks to give a single play, which will 
begin at noon and adjourn at midnight, the admit- 
tance fee being scaled down from day to day. The 
audience sit with hats on, munching bits of cocoa- 
nuts and stalks of sugar-cane, and watch with 
intense interest the tinsel and glitter of dress, as 
the story of ancient royalty proceeds. So critical 
is the audience, that imperfections in acting are 



TRAVELS, 323 

instantly detected and punished. Their so-called 
music is the most discordant din and squeak imag- 
inable. 

The Chinamen in California are organized into 
six companies, and well armed to protect their 
mutual interests. It is thought they have their 
own courts, but they will never testify against each 
other in our courts. On the streets they are quiet 
and peaceable. They are 'very industrious and 
frugal, and provide for their own sick and poor. 
Their dress is tidy and worn loose about the body. 
The soles of their shoes are thick and made of 
wood. The Chinaman has no beard. His front 
hair is shaved back, and the balance is neatly braided 
with silk in a long pig-tail, and either fastened 
about the head or worn long down the back. No 
greater disgrace can happen to John Chinaman 
than to be deprived of his pig-tail. 

In California there are 3,000 or 4,000 Chinese 
children, and as many women, most of whom are 
said to be disreputable. The rapid progress and 
development of the Pacific States are largely due 
to the Chinaman's cheap labor. His dollar-a-day 
services are accepted as hostler, servant and nurse, 
or at wharves, in mines, on farms and railroads. 
He has been the escape valve of the heated labor 
question ; hence the frequent demonstrations there 
of v/orkingmen with their torchlights and mottoes 
that the *' Chinaman must go." Laboring men 
take alarm at the vast inroads of the Mongolian 
race ; especially when they reflect that China, with 



324 TRAVELS. 

her population of 450,000,000, could send a tenth 
of her people without missing them. But they 
will look in vain to the old constitution for a defense 
against Chinese immigration, as heaven has des- 
tined this country to be an asylum for the world's 
poor and oppressed. 

Relief, if it comes, must be found In the Chinese 
Educational Mission at Hartford, Connecticut, 
which is under the charge of Yung Wing. He 
graduated in 1854 at Yale College, and, converted 
to Christianity, returned to China, with the single 
purpose of doing his nation the greatest possible 
good. For seventeen years he labored persever- 
ingly in various capacities, until finally he succeeded 
in enlisting the Imperial Government in his grand 
scheme of educating and Christianizing the Chinese. 
In 1872 he came again to America with the first 
quota of about thirty Chinese youths. Over one 
hundred boys in all have now arrived, and are being 
educated in New England, the headquarters being 
at Hartford. The boys are selected by competitive 
examination, and will spend fifteen years abroad, 
passing through the public schools, colleges and 
various professions and trades. The annual expen- 
ses are $100,000, and the total amount appropriated 
by the Chinese Government, was $1,500,000. Yung 
Wing's prayer has brought into the sky a cloud the 
size of a man's hand, which is destined to over- 
spread the Celestial heavens, carrying the blessings 
of Christian liberty throughout that mighty empire 
of idolatry. 



TRAVELS. 325 

At the United States Mint in San Francisco, 
where the Bonanza Princes draw their mountains 
of silver, we saw machines busily coining the trade 
dollar, $80,000 per day passing under the die. 
The trade dollar, of which $25,000,000 have been 
coined, is used to pay imports from China and India, 
being packed and sealed, $2,000 in a box. 

The great weakness of Californians is their love 
of venture in mining stocks. They went wild over 
their speculations, the market broke, Ralston died, 
his bank failed, the panic touched the coast, pro- 
perty declined, and the masses, including the once 
wealthy, suffer with people east of the Mountains 
the pinchings and anxieties of the hard times. 
Solomon's words are as true to-day as when uttered : 
*' Riches certainly make themselves wings ; they fly 
away, as an eagle toward heaven." 

The so-called '' good-times" after the war encour- 
aged extravagance, pride, selfishness and forget- 
fulness of God. Are not these so-called " hard 
times" the good times? Because they teach 
economy, humility, charity and a loving dependence 
upon our Heavenly Father, which alone bring ever- 
lasting riches. 

San Francisco has been called " the grave of all 
human hopes.'* Doubtless tens of thousands have 
rounded the cape, crossed the isthmus or Rocky 
Mountains earnestly hoping to repair broken down 
reputations and recover lost fortunes only to be 
buried with hopes unrealized in lonelier and sadder 
graves on the quiet Pacific. And yet to-day Cali- 



326 TRAVELS. 

fornia abounds in intelligent and enterprising 
young men and women, who are certain to make 
the Golden State a star of the first magnitude. 

Homeward bound, we steamed up the magnificent 
bay, twenty-eight miles to Vallejo. One of the 
most charming paintings of this land of perpetual 
flowers, preserved in memory's picture gallery, is 
the Golden sunset above the peaceful Pacific 
over the entrance to the harbor, which we witnessed 
from the deck of our steamer. This lovely land 
scape made the name ** Golden Gate " all the more 
appropriate. 

From Vallejo via rail we returned to Sacramento 
and thence by sleeping car back over the snowy 
Sierras, studded with 1,500 glacier lakes, regretting 
only that the season forbade a visit to the sea lions, 
geysers, big trees and Yosemite Vally, made famous 
by Bierstadt. 

Leaving Reno, on the Central Pacific Railroad, 
294 miles east of San Francisco, we went by rail, 
mostly up grade, twenty-one miles south to Virginia 
City, which is well built on a slope of Mount Dav- 
idson and contains 12,000 wide awake people. Here 
the wonderful bonanza silver mines are situated on 
the Comstock lode, which is 25,000 feet long, and 
extends under both Virginia City and Gold Hill. 
The ground under these two cities is honey-combed 
with shafts and tunnels from which the ore has been 
removed. This fabulously rich lode was discovered 
in the summer of 1858 by two miners, O'Reilly and 
McLaughlin, who, in excavating a basin in which 



TRAVELS. 327 

to catch water for their rockers employed in gold 
washing, uncovered a rich vein of sulphuret of 
silver, since which time over seventy claims have 
been located on this lode. The vein varies in 
width from thirty to two hundred feet ; the walls 
sometimes meeting; and in depth from four hun- 
dred to twenty-two hundred feet, the lowest level. 

The California and Consolidated Virginia, the 
two most valuable mines at present, are chiefly 
owned by the bonanza princes, Messrs. Mackay, 
Fair, Flood and O'Brien. Messrs. Mackay and 
Fair live in Virginia City and as President and 
Superintendent work the mines. Messrs. Flood 
and O'Brien reside at San Francisco, and manage 
the Nevada Bank with its $10,000,000 capital. 
O'Brien has recently died. These quadrilateral 
princes have branch banks at Nevada and in New 
York City. We were introduced to Messrs. Mackay 
and Fair, who designated Mr. Patton, their gentle- 
manly underground engineer, to act as our guide. 

We were furnished with a change of garments 
throughout and must have resembled Nevada 
miners. As we stepped into the car over the per- 
pendicular shaft, nearly a third of a mile in depth, 
we could scarcely breathe, so hot and stifling was 
the air and steam which found escape from this 
hand-made volcano. The engineer gave the signal 
"' Ready ! '* And down, down 500 feet we went 
with fluttering hearts, the thermometer rapidly 
rising. Soon Mr. Patton said " Only 650 feet more." 
* Mr. Mackav has since died. 



3^8 TRAVELS. 

The frequent thumping of the car on projecting 
timbers, which the expanding porphyry rock had 
forced out of place, fills the soul with dread of 
broken bones. However, relief soon came by the 
announcement that we had reached the *' 1,650 
feet level." We were in an underground city. Its 
main avenues and innumerable cross streets were 
brightly lighted, and little iron cars, loaded with 
precious ores were rolling toward the shaft to be 
hoisted to the surface. The thermometer ranges 
from 130 to 160. Stalwart miners, stripped to the 
waist work fifteen minutes, then rest fifteen min- 
utes. Some break down the rich ores, or fill cars ; 
others carefully refill the vacant space with timbers 
fourteen inches square, to prevent a cave, the min- 
ners' dread ; while others drive prospecting tunnels 
with drills rapidly worked by compressed air. The 
air escaping, creates thorough ventilation — an abso- 
lute necessity in deep mining. Workmen every- 
where are covered with dripping perspiration. 

A half hour in this city of more than tropical heat 
and our borrowed clothes are drenched. We were 
forcibly reminded of the exhilaration in Senator 
Jones' model Russian bath in San Francisco. 

Six tons of ice are daily consumed in making ice 
water, which is drunk without apparent harm, in 
immense quantities by the I,3CXD miners employed. 
Its effect on us, however, was the reverse, and a 
severe chill forced a hasty retreat to the shaft, up 
which, in a car with fifteen passengers, we were 
swiftly hoisted, ten times as high as the average 



TRAVELS. 329 

church spire, by the one hundred and sixty horse 
power engine, with the same ease that a child picks 
up its doll. 

Never did day-light and average temperature 
seem more welcome. *' Whiskey, which is a sure 
antidote to chills," was declined, while the warm 
bath, kindly furnished, worked a speedy cure. 

These mines are worked night and day, seven 
days in a week. Five hoisting machines are con- 
stantly busy. Every eight hours hundreds of min- 
ers must be lowered down and as many taken up, 
while daily 1,200 tons of ore are removed, nearly a 
ton every half-minute, and 80,000 feet of huge tim- 
bers are dropped into position. The giant protec- 
tor of life in this vast city in the center of the 
mountain, is the huge pump which prevents the 
water from flooding below. Timbers, fourteen 
inches square, are spliced and stand upright 1,650 
feet in length in the shaft. At intervals of 200 feet, 
eight powerful pumps are attached to the timber, 
which, being balanced at the top by sixteen tons of 
iron, is worked steadily up and down by a 500 
horse power engine ; the pump and engine costing 
half a million dollars. 

The ores are reduced to pulp in scores of mills, 
by hundreds of stamps that make a noise like steam 
forges. The pulp, heated and stirred for five hours, 
surrenders its treasures to quicksilver; the latter 
being driven off in heated ovens, while the gold 
and silver remain behind in crude bullion, which 
is recast in molds for the mint. 



330 TRAVELS. 

The total production of the Comstock Lode, since 
the discovery, 1858, is not far from $250,000,000, 
forty per cent of which is gold ; sixty per cent 
silver. 

As we hasten toward resumption of specie pay- 
ment, it is natural to inquire what has become of 
1,100,000,000 of gold and silver of domestic produc- 
tion? Largely to pay for imports from Europe and 
the East Indies, and the interest on our National 
debt, which is so largely held abroad. China and 
India could use $500,000,000 more of precious 
metals and then not have a dollar per capita. 

The production of the Nevada bonanza is dwarfed 
when compared with that of Silver Mountain, 
situated at Potosi, South America. This mountain, 
at an altitude of three miles has been honeycombed 
with 5,000 mines, which are estimated to have pro- 
duced, during the last three centuries, the fabulous 
amount of $1,600,000,000 or six times the total pro- 
duct of the entire Comstock lode. 

In these disastrous times, * when one half of our 
railroads, savings banks, life and fire insurance com- 
panies are in the hands of receivers, cautious 
capital sensitively inquires, is precious metal min- 
ing in the United States profitable? The facts 
respond that during the past twenty-seven years 
an investment of $700,000,000 has earned about 
$1,500,000,000, the net annual profit being $30,000, 
000 or an annual interest of four per cent, which 
places mining for precious metal as a safe and 
* Written in 1877. 



TRAVELS. 331 

remunerative business, on as sound a basis as 
investment in Government bonds. 

Our National debt is over $2,200,000,000 which 
mortgages the 2,300,000,000 acres of land in the 
United States to the extent of nearly $1.00 per 
acre. Our National, State, municipal, railroad and 
other debts exceed $7,000,000,000 or $3.00 indebt- 
edness for every acre of our broad domain. 

To pay simple annual interest on this gigantic 
debt, requires the total surplus wheat and cotton 
crops of the entire country. How can the Nation 
more speedily release herself from this awkward 
dilemma than to encourage capital to engage in 
developing our rich mines ? 

If the 3,000 mills and 25,000 miners at present 
employed produce in 1877, $85,000,000 of gold and 
silver, almost suf^cient to pay the interest on the 
Federal debt, what amount is too great to expect 
from mining alone when 100,000 mills and 1,000,000 
miners are brought into activity beyond the Missis- 
sippi ? 

England on a coin basis of $480,000,000 and a 
paper issue of $227,280,175 transacts annually more 
than $100,000,000,000 of business, four times as much 
as the United States, and is mistress of the world's 
commerce, manufacturing and financial operations. 
It is not impossible for the United States to seize 
this golden prize within the next half century, if 
capital, energy and perseverance are only united. 
Walter, owner of the Londo7i Times, who has trav- 
eled extensively, prophesies that before the close of 



332 TRAVELS. 

the Nineteenth century there will be but two first- 
class powers, Russia and the United States. Napo- 
leon affirmed in 1816 that in twenty-five years the 
United States would dictate the policy of Europe. 
A little premature, but now being confirmed. 

From Virginia City we returned to the overland 
railroad and gladly resumed our journey eastward. 
At a distance the unlettered red man, representa- 
tive of the few remaining fragmentary tribes, stands 
in utter amazement as he looks down upon the 
permanent occupation of his former vast hunting 
grounds, by the wheels of progress ; while even the 
learned pale face who sits in luxuriant palace 
coaches is filled with wonder at the rapid strides by 
which civilization is advancing. 

Before the war the overland travel and freight 
had become enormous. A single firm with its 
capital of $3,000,000 employed 3,OC5(D teamsters and 
40,000 yoke of oxen on the plains. Then stages 
made the trip from ocean to ocean in twenty-two 
days. In i860 a daily pony express, east and west, 
was established. Only letters were carried in the 
riders' saddlebags. Charges, $20.00 per ounce. 
The first arrival of the pony express at the termini of 
the almost 200 mile journey, which was made in 
ten days, was greeted with cannon, bells and flags. 
A continuous railroad over the Sierra Nevadas and 
Rocky Mountains and across great deserts to the 
far off Missouri River, was but a dream in the 
minds of the dauntless Californian and persecuted 
Mormon. 



TRA VELS. 333 

Finally the rebellion came and made a conti- 
nental railroad a necessity. Congress and capital 
were besieged, till both the credit of the nation 
and the pride of her most heroic business men were 
pledged to the herculean task. The United States 
donated the right-of-way over its public lands, and 
neccessary timber and other material found on the 
same, along the route. The Government also 
gave alternate sections of land on either side of 
the track, which amounted to an area nearly as 
large as the great State of Ohio. 

The United States granted further aid to the 
enterprise in $55,092,192 of thirty-year bonds bear- 
ing six per cent interest. These bonds, by further 
favorable legislation, were made a second lien, that 
the railroad corporation might issue $55,000,000 
more first mortgage bonds of their own in addition 
to the Government loan. 

Thus abundantly provided with funds, the build- 
ing of the railroad was begun in 1864, and from 
January 1866, was pushed both in Nebraska and 
California with unprecedented vigor. 

An average of a mile per day of the road was 
completed. The obstacles to be overcome were 
less formidable than anticipated. The upgrade for 
the first 500 miles west of Omaha is gradual, not 
exceeding an average of ten feet to the mile. In 
crossing the mountains it does not exceed 90 feet. 
The total grade overcome is 8,196 feet at Sherman. 

On Monday, May 10, 1869, a junction was made 
at Promontory Point, on the northern shore of 



334 TRAVELS. 

Great Salt Lake. A large concourse of people had 
gathered from nearly every state in the Union. 
The sun stood in the zenith, and the stars and 
stripes, emblem of unity, floated over all. A 
moment's quiet and Divine blessing vi^as invoked. 
Then the last tie, a beautiful piece of workmanship 
of California laurel, with silver plates, on which the 
suitable inscription was put in place, and the last 
connecting rails were laid by each corporation. 
The last spikes — one of gold from California, one 
of silver from Nevada, and one of gold, silver and 
iron from Arizona — were then driven by a solid 
silver hammer, and precisely at noon, the news was 
flashed over the continent that 1,774 miles of rail- 
road were united, securely binding with strong 
bands of iron, the new states of the Pacific to the 
states of the Atlantic. 

On the " Overland " as the Pacific roads are 
called, a daily express starts from Omaha and San 
Francisco. Time, six days, which necessitates 
twelve express trains in constant motion. 

The average annual net earnings are $14,841,814 : 
sufificient for dividends from eight to ten per cent 
on the nominal value of the stock. 

The managers of this road win fortunes that 
monopolize and palatial residences that kings might 
envy, while the debt of their railroads to the govern- 
ment has increased from $55,000,000, to $80,000,000. 
We trust the recent law passed by Congress will 
work a remedy. 

At Osfden we met General O. O. Howard and 



TRAVELS. 335 

Staff, and the four day's journey with him and other 
agreeable companions was delightful. The other- 
wise long trip was much shortened by a racy review 
of the Nez Perces war last summer. The march of 
Howard, 1,321 miles in seventy-five days, from the 
Pacific over the Rocky Mountains to the surrender 
of Chief Joseph and his braves, surpasses even 
Sherman's famous march — 325 miles in 39 days — 
from *' Atlanta to the sea." 

When the rebellion began Otis O. Howard was a 
young professor at West Point, on the Hudson. 
James G. Blaine telegraphed ; " Will you take the 
colonelcy of a regiment?" He responded " Yes," 
and reported immediately in Maine, his native State, 
and entered the service of his country. 

The prompt passage of his finely disciplined 
regiment, through the principal cities and towns of 
New England and the Middle States to the front 
was one continuous ovation. Patriotism was fired 
in every heart and regiment followed regiment 
in rapid succession. Once at the front, young 
Howard's splendid military training became of 
great value in perfecting discipline in the brigade to 
which he was soon promoted. As an offering to his 
country at the battle of Fair Oaks, he laid his own 
strong right arm on the altar. He was engaged in 
the battles from Tennessee to Georgia, and com- 
manded, with Sherman, from " Atlanta to the sea." 
Promotion followed promotion, and Congress hon- 
ored him with a medal and thanks as a token of 
a nation's gratitude. 



33^ TRAVELS. 

To-day Major General Howard ranks sixth under 
General Sherman in the regular army. In the 
summer of 1863, General Lee, with the flower of 
the rebel army, had crossed the Potomac, and 
unchecked, would have devastated the opulent cities 
of the North. 

The location of the fierce three day's battle around 
the hills of Gettysburg, where Lee's impetuous 
army was paralyzed, was due to Howard's valor 
and foresight. 

All through the rebellion, while fighting the 
Indians on the plains, and in times of peace, whether 
in the quiet of home or journeying by boat or 
rail we find General Otis O. Howard holding high 
the banner of our Lord and Master. He truly is 
the Havelock of America, and merits well the title 
of '' The Christian Soldier." 

The occupants of our car early came to know 
each other by the General's tact in introduction. A 
young wife conversed consolingly with an aged 
mother, who had laid away her life companion 
beneath the orange trees of California. A rough, 
but noble-hearted Colonel in the Union Army, 
whose gentle wife was soon to go with consumption, 
was easily approached on the subject of personal 
religion. The gentleness of Howard, the hero of 
twenty-three battles, drew even the little timid 
children of a returning missionary into his lap. 

When evening came the break in the engine 
seemed providential. The General said " It is 
Thursday, our regular meeting night at Portland." 



TRAVELS. 337 

His Chief of Staff, brought the gospel hymn book 
and out on the sage brush plains of Wyoming 
Territory, we held a most delightful prayer meet- 
ing. 

It was stated that our party of eighteen had lost 
by death fifty-six of their near relatives. The sing- 
ing, the talks, the communion with the Spirit, made 
the way across the River seem less lonesome. The 
few felt we were soon to be with the many. We 
sang *' Over the River," and the General committed 
us in brief prayer to God's keeping for the night. 

At noon, on Washington's Birthday, at Sherman, 
on the summit of the Rocky Mountains, we sang, 
under General Howard's lead, the stirring and patri- 
otic words of our National hymn, '* America." 

In Utah, I heard it said that people who go 
beyond the Mississippi always leave their religion 
behind them. Be the saying true or not, the 
demand was never greater than to-day for the 
Christian heroism of a Howard in the hearts of 
every young man and woman in America, if we 
purpose, under God, to lay permanent foundations 
for a nation, which it is estimated will within four 
centuries, outnumber the entire present population 
of the globe. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE LONE STAR STATE. 
Texas : its Resources, Soil, Climate, Capitol and Heroes. 

An American needs to travel much of the time 
to be comprehensively patriotic. For many years 
circumstances have required me to travel in America 
and Europe, during the last nine years in the lecture 
field. 

Every season new sections and cities of America 
that I had scarcely heard of, spring into view. 
After rendering services at both the Florida and 
Georgia Chautauquas we were off again to attend 
the Texas and Arkansas Chautauquas. A thousand 
and seventy-eight miles, via the Queen and Crescent 
Railway, from Cincinnati through the Switzerland 
of Eastern Tennessee, brought us on the evening of 
the Fourth of July, 1892 to New Orleans. Every- 
where en route there was a noticeable absence of 
the firecrackers and the stars and stripes, not that 
the South to-day is less patriotic than the North, 
but because in days gone by liberty for all was not 
a profitable and popular theme for Southern planters 
and politicians. 

The Crescent City was sweltering in the rays of 
inland cotton growing sunshine. Gentlemen even 



TRAVELS, 339 

at the St. Charles Hotel had discarded both coats 
and vests. 

Our stay was short, but we learned that since the 
war, liberty, artificial ice, and electric fans were 
about equally prized. The next morning a South- 
ern Pacific Company's ferryboat conveyed us to 
Algiers, across the Father of Waters, which was full 
to the brim. The amount of silt brought down 
from the Mississippi's fifteen hundred tributaries is 
fabulous, filling the Gulf of Mexico a mile in depth 
one hundred feet per year. Thus while the French 
from Canada are slowly recapturing New England, 
the South is gaining possession of the rich North- 
west, and in the centuries to come will raise cotton 
and sugar on the same soil that once furnished the 
world with corn and wheat. Nothing save the sea 
seems permanent, not even the Rocky Mountains, 
for they are moving into the sea. 

Our ride across lower Louisiana, skirting the gulf, 
was a revelation and delight. For fifty miles west 
we were in rich bottom lands subject to yearly 
overflow. Much of the way we rode on piling and 
embankments and the small towns, like lily pods, 
seemed to float on the water. Rice fields far and 
wide were flooded artificially and negroes in water 
to the waist were removing tall weeds. Other 
diked fields grew rank sugar cane. Vigorous vines 
clothed every dead tree, and shapely cypresses 
spread out their trunks and roots for security. An 
abundance of flowers, underbrush and cane brake, 
made the forest impenetrable.^ 



340 TRA VELS. 

The humblest of cabins sheltered broods of blacks 
in every tint, who had drifted westward with the 
advance of rice and sugar. On slightly elevated 
ground, we observed the old time home of the sugar 
planter, white and palatial, with columns, piazzas, 
slave cabins, sugar mills and outbuildings. The 
duty off sugar had rubbed the paint from his palace, 
but two cents bounty has again opened the furrows 
and started the production, till the music of the 
sugar and rice mills again keeps time with negro 
melodies. Truly, the famous McKinley tariff bill 
is a panacea for many American ills, only let the 
medicine be widely and thoroughly applied. 

From Pearl River across Louisiana, to Sabine 
River is three hundred miles, and nowhere have I 
seen richer soil. Louisiana is destined to be one of 
the wealthiest states in the Union, Texas excepted, 
of course. A Texan can walk as the crow flies, a 
thousand miles on the soil of his own Empire State. 
From Texarkana to El Paso, Texas, is the same 
distance as from New York to Chicago. A Texan, 
riding the entire boundary of his State, has made a 
journey equal to a trip from Chicago to London. 
The Pan Handle of Texas, will hold all New Eng- 
land, and the outlying district of Texas the Repub- 
lic of France. The population of Texas is two mil- 
lion five hundred thousand and the total wealth 
not far from 1,500,000,000 though only a small 
portion of the State is yet developed. Texas, with 
a population equal to that of New Jersey per square 
mile would have 63,000,000 souls, about the present 
population of the United States. 



TRAVELS. 341 

The three natural divisions of Texas are the east- 
ern or timber belt stretching for several hundreds 
of miles along the gulf coast, which is fringed with 
islands, the central or cotton and grain belt; and 
the western or grazing portion. The timber belt, 
larger than Missouri, embraces vast pine lands, 
forests of ash, cypress, cedar, oak, magnolia and 
walnut. We have only to remember that 12,000 
mechanics in Grand Rapids, Mich., a city set in the 
timber district, largely control the furniture trade 
of America, selling annually over $10,000,000 worth 
of finest furniture, to understand the value of the 
forests alone of Texas. The most important portion 
of Texas is the Central black prairie lands that 
constitute the marvelous cotton and grain section. 
They commence at the Red River north of Denni- 
son, and extend southward to San Antonio, a tract 
as large as Indiana. This rich plateau is 500 feet 
above the sea, and is also called " the health belt of 
Texas." 

Texans name portions of this soil " black waxy " 
because of its very sticky nature. Texans do not 
leave tracks in it but take their tracks with them. 
Of course, great variety of soil and diversity of cli- 
mate is most noticeable in a section covering so 
many degrees of latitude. Here are raised grains, 
cotton, vegetables and fruits of all kinds and excel- 
lent in quality. The fact that Texas products ripen 
early enables their marketing several weeks earlier 
than Northern crops. 

Texas is the banner cotton state. She produces 



342 ^-^^ VELS. 

as much of the fleecy staple as all the world outside 
of the United States — 1,500,000 or more bales, that 
empty into the farmers' pockets sixty or seventy 
millions in cash. Cotton culture in Texas is con- 
ducted by young men from every state in the Union 
and from all countries. 

We saw a Swede whose cotton crop last year 
brought him fifty thousand dollars. The cotton is 
not grown in patches as in most other southern 
states, but in large regular fields, the long rows 
planted on straight lines, and the plants as we saw 
them, looked like a nursery of young maple trees, 
three or four feet high, the blossom beginning to 
appear. Picking begins in July and lasts till January. 
It is clean light work, engaging the services of men, 
women, and children. 

It surprised me to see immense fields of already 
ripe corn rivaling that produced in Illinois and 
Kansas, growing side by side with cotton. No- 
where else, as in Texas, can you find so success- 
fully grown, alternating fields of sugar cane, rice, 
cotton, corn, wheat, oats, barley, and vegetables. 
Texas alone is able to feed the nation ; a kingdom 
without a king, an empire state of inexhaustible 
resources. 

Some Texans grumble at the low price of cotton 
while others feel that to clothe the naked at cheap 
prices is practical missionary work. Others reason 
that low cotton teaches the necessity of increasing 
the diversity of crops, and so keep within the state 
the millions that cotton brings. The western por- 



TRA VELS. 343 

tion of Texas is upland, and the long parallel 
valleys and ridges afford the best natural pasturage 
in the world for cattle and sheep. 

It is on the central black prairies Avhere the rail- 
ways are thickest, that there have been built the 
cities of Dallas, Waco, Forth Worth, Dennison, 
Sherman, Paris, Austin, and San Antonio, all flour- 
ishing centers of 15,000 to 60,000 people. San An- 
tonio is the rival of St. Augustine, in its early 
origin and interest. 

A week's engagement at the thriving Texas 
Chautauqua, Georgetown, on the limestone bluffs 
of the San Gabriel River, in the shade of oaks 
and cedars, enabled us to study Texans and to 
visit their capital, Austin, nearby. The capitol is 
one of the finest buildings in the world and cer- 
tainly one of the best state capitols in America. 

The form approximates a greek cross. Its length 
is 566 feet, greatest width 288 feet, and height of 
dome 311 feet. The capitol is built of a variety of 
Texas pink granite, which is susceptible of highest 
polish and is soft and beautiful to the eye. The 
whole structure costing 3,000,000 acres of land is 
the seventh largest building in the world, and 
rivals, if in general harmony it does not excel the 
Capitol at Washington. A goddess of liberty 
guards the dome with sword in hand to defend the 
lone star in her left hand, brilliant in the sunshine. 

As you approach the capitol, a new granite mon- 
ument teaches the bravery of the heroes of the 
Alamo. Colonel Travis said to the enemy : "We 



344 TRA VELS. 

neither surrender nor retreat," and every man was 
slain. The monument also bears the motto : 
'* Thermopylae had her messenger of defeat ; the 
Alamo none." 

Such gallantry bequeathes a priceless legacy to 
every Texan ; Houston, Austin, Travis and Crockett 
were their heroes. 

The wonder of all is the State's available funds for 
school purposes. Nearly $6,000,000 invested in 
State and County bonds, 40,000,000 acres of school 
lands controlled by the State, 17,712 acres of 
school lands controlled by each of the more than 
200 counties. Ultimately the school funds of 
Texas, resulting from the sale of school lands, at 
$3.00 per acre, will reach $151,000,000. Not with- 
out reason do Texans expect their great southern 
star will become the brightest on the glorious ban- 
ner of the nation. 

Our journey north brought us home via the 
Ozark Mount Chautauqua, in Northwest Arkansas, 
for lectures, which closed our lecture season of 
1891-92. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

YELLOWSTONE, YOSEMITE WONDERS. 

Northern Pacific Railway. Sioux Tepees. Indian Children. 
Custer Monument. Gateway to Yellowstone Park. Cinnabar. 
The Mammoth Hot Springs. Geysers of Norris Basin. 
Paint Pot Basin. The Excelsior. The Castle Geyser. The 
Giant Crater. The Natural Bridge. Yellowstone Lake. 
Lower Falls. Teton Range. Colorado Canon. Mariposa 
Grove of Big Trees. The Wawona. Yosemite Valley. The 
Bridal Veil Falls. Cathedral Rock. The Yosemite Falls. 

On my second trip to the Pacific Coast, on a 
lecture tour, in the spring of 1888, I visited the far 
famed Yellowstone National Park. Our party con- 
sisted of a story-telling Chicago merchant, a Cornell 
graduate who carried a well-worn volume of Tenny- 
son's poems, a Londoner and his agreeable sister, 
and myself. 

The Yellowstone or National Park contains a half 
million acres and is located in the northwestern 
corner of the State of Wyoming. 

The Northern Pacific Railway connects Duluth 
on the Great Lakes, and St. Paul on the Mississippi 
River with Puget Sound in the far northwest. The 
distance is about 2000 miles. Few rides in the world 
are of equal interest. The area which this pioneer 



34^ TRA VELS. 

railway and its allied systems are developing, is one- 
sixth of the area of the United States, and one of 
the fairest and most interesting sections of 
America. 

The Northern Pacific Railway was chartered in 
1864 and the last rail was laid Sept. 23rd, 1883 (in 
the valley of the Hellgate River, near Gold Creek) 
near the summit of the Rocky Mountains. Five 
trains of distinguished guests were .present, including 
General U. S. Grant, governors of states and territo- 
ries, members of Congress, and members of the 
British and German Parliaments. 

Sioux tepees are seen from car windows, showing 
how the brave Sioux of to-day live along the line of 
the Northern Pacific Railroad. The largest tepee 
is usually the Medicine Lodge where Councils 
are held. Formerly they were made from tanned 
buffalo skins sewed together by buckskin thongs 
and stretched over poles. The smoke pours out at 
the top. The only entrance at the bottom is large 
enough to crawl under. 

The Indians are very fond of their children. A 
chief who lost his son resolved to have close 
combat with the first animal he saw. It was a big 
buffalo, and friends who met his horse returning 
alone, found the chief and buffalo dead together on 
the grass. 

Infants are carried in blankets strapped to the 
squaw's back. If death comes, the little pack or 
cradle is filled with black quills or feathers, and it 
is carried around a year or more as if the child were 



TRA VELS. 347 

alive, and the stricken mother talks to the empty 
crib. 

The red men are becoming extinct ; barely a 
quarter of a million Indians remain. Soon they 
will all join the buffalo in the happ}^ hunting 
ground. The "best Indian is a dead Indian " is a 
sentiment not complimentary to our civilization. 

The great sport of the year for them was to cap- 
ture the fatted buffalo as he returned from the 
bunch grass pastures of the North. Mounted on 
swift ponies, the arrows were often sent with 
sufficient force co pass entirely through the animal. 
Sometimes vast herds were driven over ledges and 
hundreds were trodden to death. 

About thirty miles south of the railway station, 
on the Little Big Horn River, is seen the Custer 
monument. By this the United States Government 
marked the historic battle-ground, where on the 
morning of the 25th of June, 1876, about two hun- 
dred of the Seventh Cavalry and their brave leader, 
General Custer, were overwhelmed and pitilessly 
slaughtered by 2500 Indians under the famous chief, 
Sitting-Bull. 

Custer was an Ohio man. He had blue eyes and 
long light hair. A graduate of West Point, at 23 
years he was a Brigadier General, and at 25 years a 
Major General. He fought at Bull Run and Gettys- 
burg, and was present at the surrender of Appo- 
mattox. Eleven horses were shot under him. Once 
he saved the flag he loved by tearing it from the pole 
and hiding it in his bosom. What Napoleon said of 



348 TRA VELS. 

Ney is true of Custer, '' The bravest of the 
brave." 

We enter Montana, the State of Mountains, which 
is traversed by tlie pioneer Northern Pacific Rail- 
road in a northwestern direction for eight hundred 
miles. Dakota is behind us, Idaho before us ; south 
are Wyoming and Utah, and on the north is British 
America. This empire state, three hundred miles by 
five hundred and fifty in extent, lies on both sides of 
the erratic Rocky Mountains. Neither the six New 
England States and the great State of New York, 
nor Great Britain, Ireland and Wales combined, 
could blanket Montana. 

This inland empire state, is an exceedingly 
picturesque resort, comprising noble mountain 
ranges, beautiful valleys and heroic people. 

We arrive at Livingston, where many change 
cars for the Yellowstone National Park. The long 
Pacific Express is heavily laden with earnest men 
and women in search of fame and fortune. Their 
motto, is '* Westward Ho " ! The Yellowstone River 
will make Livingston a great inland manufacturing 
center. With the cool green waters of the Yellow- 
stone River on our left, we set our faces southward 
through a gateway of the mountains cut for three 
miles in lofty rock-ridged peaks. 

The mountain gateway leads to a fertile plain 
called " Paradise Valley", which drew settlers here 
when white scalps were at a premium. 

The Yellowstone in this valley is fringed with 
trees, has a stony bed, an impetuous current, is 



TRA VELS, 349 

five or six feet deep and three hundred feet wide. 
Its waters freshe|ied by mountain streams, are clear 
as crystal, cold as ice, alive with trout and equally 
gamesome grayling. Their weight ranges from half 
a pound to two pounds and upwards. They take 
the fly pretty freely, but settlers lure them with 
grasshoppers. 

On our left is the " Devil Slide" , a bit of Nature's 
handicraft on the Cinnabar Mountain, so called 
probably because half way up the face, the height 
is girdled by a broad band of vermilion. Other 
bands of red and yellow follow the curved slide 
and arrest the eye by the brilliant contrasting 
colors. 

Two enormous dikes of trap rock, slightly curved, 
traverse Cinnabar Peak from apex to base. The 
walls are over fifty feet broad and two hundred 
feet high. The material between the dikes has been 
washed away, leaving the gigantic walls as vertical 
and smooth as if built by skilled masons. Each wall 
is dotted with beautiful pines. 

The Snow Mountains lift their stately domes and 
lofty pinnacles glistening with snow, 3,000 or 4,000 
feet above this elevated valley. These rugged 
heights born of volcanic forces also exhibit the 
mighty power of glacial action, and the capricious 
sculpture of wind and weather. Nature is our 
mother and teacher. Her lessons have helped to 
teach the world civilization. Homes were suggested 
by caves, cathedrals by chiseled peaks, agriculture 
by wild grains, manufacturing by waterfalls, com- 



350 TRAVELS. 

merce by driftwood, steam and electrical power by 
hot geysers and lightning, the harmony of color 
and art by sunsets and landscape. 

Coaches were taken at Cinnabar, the southern 
terminus of the branch railway, fifty-one miles from 
Livingston and near the northern boundary of the 
National Park. 

Usually a jolly company of tourists climb within 
and on top, and the driver spurs his splendid team 
of four grays to a brisk trot over smooth roads, 
constructed by United States engineers, through 
the valley of the Gardiner River. 

The ride is exhilarating and the scenery impos- 
ing. To the east are the majestic domes of the 
Yellowstone range. Six miles of delightful driving 
bring us to a turn in the road, which reveals a most 
curious feature of the park. 

Liberty Cap, aptly termed from its shape, is the 
cone of an extinct geyser, and it stands near the 
hotel. It is forty-five feet high and twenty feet at 
the base, composed of over-lapping layers of 
sediment. These lime mausoleums of old geysers 
however, are gradually crumbling into dust. 

Although these Mammoth Hot Springs are the 
most important of the kind now active in the 
world, they are insignificant as compared with 
those which built up Terrace Mountain and numer- 
ous cliffs along the Yellowstone. These springs are 
situated in a small valley one thousand feet above 
the Gardiner River. At various elevations on the 
terraces, hot water impregnated mainly with calcari- 



TRAVELS. 351 

ous matter from below, issues in pulsating waves, 
overflows the basins, and the deposits under favor- 
able circumstances are one-sixteenth of an inch in 
four days or an inch every sixty-four days. Many 
of the basins have exquisitely fretted rims ; the 
colors of their wavy filmlike borders are often very 
beautiful. 

It is not diflicult to climb to the top of the ter- 
races, and often the shoes are well soaked in hot 
water which gently pours from the upper reservoirs 
into tiers of basins below, repeating the process till 
the bottom of the hill is reached, when the water 
flows into the Gardiner River. 

Here is Pulpit Basin. *' Trees have tongues, 
Kooks in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and 
good in everything." 

Another view is called Crystal Forests. The 
springs on the top of the hill are of all sizes up to 
forty feet in diameter. The water is turquoise blue, 
and its crystal clearness is indescribable. The rims 
and sides are fretted with delicate frost work and 
glistening stalagmites, and the coating of the pool 
takes on rich cream and salmon color, deepening 
near the edges into brilliant shades of brown, red, 
green and yellow. 

Looking in, you hear the rush and gurgle of the 
boiling hot water over the cavernous throats, and 
watch the play of the steaming water as it undulates 
in miniature waves to the edge of the basins. Abun- 
dance of streaming filaments or threads of silken tex- 
ture,covered with sulphur, line the pools and rivulets. 



352 TRAVELS. 

The Yellowstone Park is a table land fifty-five by 
sixty-five miles in extent, about seven thousand 
feet above the sea, the whole encircled by snow- 
clad peaks from three thousand to five thousand 
feet higher. It was a most creditable act of the 
United States Congress of 1872 to devote this area 
of 3,575 square miles of public domain in perpetu- 
ity to the pleasures of the people as a National 
Park. The reservation abounds in wild gorges, 
grand canons, dancing cascades, majestic falls and 
mountains, picturesque lakes, curious hot springs 
and awe-inspiring geysers. Our tour comprises the 
Golden Gate, Norris Geyser Basin, Firehole Basin 
and the Yellowstone Lake and Grand Caiion. 

The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel is the scene 
of much activity when the coaches start on their 
journeys. The six grays in the foreground are off 
on the return trip to Gardiner. Expectant tourists 
on the porch are busy selecting seats in the lighter 
stages for the five days' drive in the Park. 

The only possible good roadway southward is 
through a rocky gorge or pass one thousand feet 
above the hotel. A long, sloping hill leads up to 
the Golden Gate and Kingman's Pass. Eight miles 
farther south is Obsidian Cliff, or " Glass Mountain " 
which towers 250 feet above the narrow stage road 
of glass. This volcanic glass is jet black, and is 
arranged in vertical pentagonal columns. Indians 
used this black mineral glass for arrow heads, weap- 
ons and tools, and possibly this glass mountain 
was as celebrated among the Rocky Mountain 



TRAVELS. 353 

tribes of Indians, as the far-famed ''Pipe stone quar- 
ries " of Minnesota have been for ages among their 
brethren of the prairies. Great blocks of this jet 
black glass roll into Beaver Lake, a beautiful sheet 
of water which the road flanks for a mile. Its 
swampy margin is covered with reeds and lily-pads 
and fine flora. It is the haunt of ducks, geese, 
crane and other water fowl. 

This lake is an enlargement of Green Creek, and 
was formed by beavers which have obstructed the 
stream by a series of thirty or forty dams, some of 
which are seen as they sweep in graceful curves 
from side to side. 

The divide between the Gardiner and Gibbons 
rivers is crossed by an easy pass ; and suddenly the 
active geysers of Norris Basin come into view, twen- 
ty-two miles south of the Mammoth Hot Springs. 
This is perhaps the oldest and most elevated of the 
thermal basins of the Park, embracing an area of a 
thousand acres. A neophyte in wonderland is apt 
to be astonished by the clouds of vapor, spouting 
geysers and overpowering odors of sulphur. Great 
caution is necessary in getting about on the treach- 
erous surface. The whole basin is a collection of hot 
springs, pools, and " paint pots " which sputter and 
sizzle violently ; the air even is hot and reeks with 
unpleasant odors. Some of these geysers are called 
''Twins," "Steamboat Vent," " Minute Man" and 
" Monarch," which spouts once in twenty-four 
hours in regal splendor. 

Norris Basin in winter, in fact the entire park, 



354 TRAVELS, 

takes on most marvelous beauty ; the roadways 
and streams are laid in shining silver ; the green 
foliage is changed to pure white ; the trees are 
ladened with sparkling crystals, and geyser craters 
enlarge in strange forms and look like white thrones 
in some supernatural palace. Rare beauty like this 
suggests most vividly the abode of spirits. 

Paint Pot Basin is five miles southward to the left 
of the road. Here and in the Lower Basin are 
scores of boiling mud and paint pot springs. They 
are scattered here and there with Nature's charming- 
fickleness. It is an interesting sight to study the 
small and large pots of gurgling, exploding mud or 
paint, smooth to the touch as velvet. You see 
every shade of color, white, orange, green, violet, 
purple, blue, brown and drab. Constantly clots of 
this pasty material are banked up around the craters. 
We ride beneath the towering wall of Gibbon 
Cafton, four miles or more past Gibbon Falls, the 
height of Niagara, over pine and fur clad terraces 
eight miles more into Firehole Valley and come to 
Fountain Geyser, the most important known in 
the Lower Basin. This hot spring is twenty-five 
feet in diameter. Preceeding action the water boils 
vigorously and is churned and dashed into a white 
mass, then it is thrown in vast quantities to a height 
of ten feet, some of the jets reaching fifty feet. 
West of this is a group of springs depositing ferric 
acid so abundantly that the ground appears deluged 
in blood. 

Several hundred hot springs and geysers in groups 



TRAVELS. 355 

are scattered along the Firehole River. We reach 
the Excelsior, in the Midway Basin, doubtless the 
largest and most wonderful geyser in the world. 
Excelsior is seen on the mound opposite, fifty feet 
above Firehole River, which intervenes between it 
and the road. We see the hot water escaping in 
numerous small streams into the river, and steam 
above an aperture 250 feet in diameter. Here at 
times the water boils like a cauldron and in 1880 its 
eruption became frightfully violent, hurling rocks 
into the air and ejecting sufficient vvater to render 
the river a foaming torrent of hot water, washing 
away bridges below. 

For a moment we come to the verge of Excelsior, 
I had almost said the verge of Hades. It is suffi- 
ciently awe-inspiring to stand on the hollow crest 
which projects over the scalding lake. In action 
its rumblings and vibrations are like those of an 
earth-quake and the valley is filled with dense 
vapor. Excelsior gives two or more displays daily. 

Further on at the entrance of the Upper Basin, 
near the left bank of the river is the Grotto. 
Within are fantastic arches above grotto-like cavi- 
ties ; these are lined with a brilliant white bead-like 
formation which glows with the rich opalescent 
tints that are seen in mother-of-pearl. The mound 
is 23 X 53 feet, and the grayish white geyserite is 
brittle and readily breaks into slabs. The Grotto 
is in action four times daily and has been termed 
the *' Grotto of pearls," the "Gem of geysers." 

The Fairies' Well is w^here, in emerald and sap- 



35^ TRAVELS. 

phire springs, wood nymphs, elfs and fairies come 
to bathe and don their dainty dress of flowers and 
jeweled dew-drops. 

Dr. Hayden reports no less than four hundred 
and forty springs and geysers in this Upper Basin. 
Scores of the springs are of exquisite beauty in 
their variety and richness of color and translucent 
waters. 

A comprehensive view of the Upper Basin is 
obtained from a high mound near " Old Faithful." 
In the foreground looms the Castle Geyser, looking 
like a feudal stronghold, belching forth its clouds 
of steam or smoke as though a mighty mortar had 
been discharged. The earth is tremulous with 
rumbling, gurgling sounds, and the air ladened with 
sulphurous fumes. The surface of the Basin con- 
sists of a succession of ridges and knolls crowned 
with geysers and boiling springs, the most power- 
ful in the world. 

The contour of the East side of Castle Crater is 
very irregular and of brain-coral formation. This 
silicious deposit is firm and in many places silvery 
or leaden gray in color. The orifice is three feet 
in diameter. Every two days a fearful roaring, audi- 
ble for miles, takes place, and volumes of water are 
ejected to a great height. 

Across the river is the Giantess, a stupendous 
geyser without raised crater. The aperture is oval 
24x34 feet. You distinctly hear it gurgling and 
boiling at a great distance below. Suddenly the 
spluttering water begins to rise and volumes of 






OLD FAITHFUL GEYSER. 



TRAVELS, 357 

steam cause a general stampede of our company. 
This is accompanied by hoarse rumblings and sub- 
terranean tremors that chill the heart, and now the 
Giantess sends up a grand column, 250 feet into the 
air, in a series of quick pulsations, which assume 
the form of separate fountains, one above the other. 

The Giant Crater is below the Giantess and quite 
near the Firehole River and the Grotto. Its high 
cleft cone is broken down on one side as if torn away 
by an eruption of more than ordinary violence. 
About us is a magnificent band of huge hot water 
trumpets, ''The Castle," ''The Splendid," "The 
Giant" and " Old Faithful," the latter roaring regu- 
larly every hour. Here nature gives her grandest 
concert in perfect diapason, each performer taking a 
solo part, and uttering his loudest tones in harmo- 
nious combination. 

This geyser is in eruption only every fourth day, 
and we were fortunate to witness its superb effort, 
which lasts nearly two hours. The stupendous 
column, seven feet in diameter, of hot water veiled 
in spray is steadfastly held up vertically as it majes- 
tically soars toward heaven. Truly we are in a 
refjion of wonder, terror and delis^ht ; beneath our 
feet convincinge vidence of internal fires, and about 
us the glory of God's creation. 

South, near the Shoshone Lake we meet some 
park tourists, well fed, with browned cheeks, some 
mounted and some on foot, resolved to see Yellow- 
stone Lake and its marvelous canons. 

En route to the Grand Canon we approach the 



358 TRAVELS. 

Natural Bridge, near the West Shore of the Yellow- 
stone Lake. How forcibly it reminds us of that 
other famous Natural Bridge of Virginia, not so high 
and impressive, but the arch more perfect. 

It invites you to test its strength. Richardson, 
the architect, in his re-introduction of the wide use 
of the arch in public and private buildings merely 
applied universal law which, long ago, nature taught 
to the old Romans and doubtless to their ancestry. 

We come to the Yellowstone Lake, with a crater 
pool in sight., and many groups of springs and gey- 
sers around it. This peerless sheet of blue water 
lies in the lap of snow-capped mountains nearly 
8,(X)0 feet (7788) above the sea, a half mile higher 
than the summit of Mt. Washington. Rudely it 
represents the open palm of the right hand and thus 
fixed the name of *' Thumb and Fingers " upon bays 
separated by narrow peninsulas. It is fifteen miles 
across thumb and palm, and twenty miles from wrist 
to tip of fingers. The lake is an enlargement of 
streams from the Yellowstone Mountains and the 
source of the famous river that emerges at the wrist. 
The Alpine Lakes even do not surpass it in clear- 
ness, in which snowy peaks are mirrored. On the 
strand glisten bright pebbles, crystals and bits of 
obsidian. Concretion Cove abounds in fossils of 
cups, pot lids, kettles, lathe-like work of divers 
forms. 

Here is to be had solid comfort, camping by the 
lake in the shade of fragrant pines, the busy world's 
work quite forgotten. The close of the day brings 



TRAVELS. 359 

back these stalwart hunter-fishermen. See their luck 
with rifle and rod, lake fowl and trout in abundance, 
the satisfaction of success in their faces, and restored 
vigor in heart pulsations, and in the background a 
white tent in which the odor of pine and spruce lulls 
to sleep. What greater happiness could be desired 
by those who are fond of sport in the Great West, 

The trout in this lake would reign supreme were 
it not for fishermen, and the deadly parasite,a slender 
white worm, which if eaten is apt to burrow in the 
flesh. This is not true of trout caught below the 
Falls, however. It is some satisfaction that the 
angler lands his parasite infested trout in a boiling 
pool behind him. 

Frequently moose, elk and deer are seen in the 
park, and occasionally the mountain lion, the black 
and grizzly bear, and a straggling member of the herd 
of buffaloes, which is carefully kept within the 
limits of the reservation, the killing of game being 
forbidden. 

The Hoodoo Region, or " Goblin land " is situated, 
east of Yellowstone Lake outside the Park reserva- 
tion. It is high up in the Sierra Shoshone Moun- 
tains where volcanic forces and erosion have each 
striven to out do the other. 

The trail is over wild and rough country. Frosts 
and storms have worn narrow crooked channels amid 
pyramids and tottering pillars in this singular range. 
This goblin land has been the home of evil spirits to 
the superstitious Indians who claim to hear strange 
sounds in this region. The formation assumes most 



360 TRA VELS, 

curious and fantastic forms of beasts and birds and 
reptiles. There are no end of spectural shapes met 
with in this weird labyrinth. The rocks are of all 
colors. The winding passages afford shelter for the 
white mountain sheep and goat. Eagles hover over 
this Hoodoo Mountain and subsist upon lambs 
hurled from lofty crags upon jagged rocks below. 

The Yellowstone River having survived its leap 
over the upper cataract makes impetuous strides for 
half a mile through high bluffs of a wild pine-clad 
gorge, over rocks and ledges, until gathering all its 
strength it fearlessly plunges from the brink of the 
Great Falls into the solitude of the awful canon 
300 feet below. Amazement is in every face. 
Make sure of your footing, cling to the railing, or 
your head will grow dizzy. 

Having recovered from the shock of its reckless 
plunge, it finds an outlet through a narrow throat 
at the foot of the pool and rushes madly on through 
the rapids, triumphant in its marvelous progress. 

Forgetting the river's fearful plunge we easily 
imagine the stream has become a winding ribbon of 
emerald satin laid along the depth of the Grand 
Gallon and finally lost to view. What grouping of 
lofty crags and towering rocks ! 

Further down another view reveals a scene of 
enchanting splendor. Far below us rise countless 
pinnacles and towers and thrones that mock the 
masonry of man. Some of the walls are vertical, 
and some slope like Gothic arches, supported by 
magnificent flying buttresses. These sculptured 



TRAVELS, 361 

rocks have been shaped by storm and torrent, by 
wind and frost till nature herself is satiated. 
Eaf^les and fish-hawks have built their nests on 
lofty pinnacles, and with interest you watch the 
king of birds dart for food into the swift torrent 
below. The whole gorge is aflame with color as 
though rainbows were hung along the walls. 

For long eras the Hot Springs have painted this 
Grand Canon. Nature's deposit of lime is of 
dazzling whiteness, sulphur has given its clearest 
yellow, the oxidation of iron 'ts deepest tints of 
red shading into scarlet and orange, while mosses 
and tall pines have added vivid green. Such a 
royal display of colors is seen elsewhere only in the 
sunsets. 

We turn to see the Great Falls, grand in its life 
and action. The foaming cauldron below is flanked 
by painted cliffs 800 feet high. 

The floods of cool sea-green water break into 
sheets of glistening foam and sparkling drops as 
they descend. But they rise again in fountains of 
spray and clouds of mist which nourish on the side 
of the canon a rank growth of pines, mosses and 
algae of every shade of green, scarlet, and brown. 

Approaching we get a view of the Teton Range, 
one of the many that form the Rocky Mountains. 
In sight are snow-touched sentinel peaks, sources of 
the long and tortuous Snake River which winds 
through Idaho and joins the famous Columbia in 
the State of Washington. The Rocky Mountains 
or Continental Divide, are a continuation of the 



362 77?^ VELS. 

famous Andes of South America. Jointly they 
form the longest and most uniform chain of moun- 
tains on the globe. 

Amid the gorges of this stupendous system of 
mountains, over 3000 miles in length, America's 
largest rivers have their birth and find outlet into 
the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans. 

No canon of all those that traverse the Rocky 
Mountains, is more renowned than the Colorado 
Canon. Its grandeur cannot be expressed. It is 
over 200 miles in length with walls from 4000 to 
6000 feet in height. Major Powell in 1869 explored 
in three months a thousand miles of this wonderful 
gorge. 

Castellated crags and lofty towers on either bank 
almost touch as they hang over a river that surges 
far below. Everywhere peaks and promontories 
dazzle the vision. 

By great feats of engineering the Denver & Rio 
Grande Railway has made it possible for tourists 
to pass through the wildest of gorges. At length 
you pierce the mountain's heart through a fissure 
less than thirty feet for both road and river. Trains 
roll over an iron bridge built lengthwise with the 
river and suspended from steel trusses mortised into 
the rocks. 

The route to the Yosemite Valley is usually ^2<^ 
San Francisco. The Valley lies in the County of 
Mariposa, Spanish for butterfly, in the east central 
part of California, or a little south-east of San 
Francisco. It is well up on the western slope of 



TRA VELS. 363 

the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, 25 
miles eastward from the valley. Many go to the 
Yosemite via the Sante Fe R. R., crossing the 
Colorado River at the " Needles," but more via the 
Union Pacific Railroad to San Francisco. The dis- 
tance to the Yosemite from the latter city over the 
Southern Pacific Railroad via " Boneda route " is 
263 miles, the last 63 miles being made by coaches. 
The first day's ride from Raymond, terminus of the 
railway, to Wawona, is 36 miles. Up gulches, 
climbing along the sides of steep mountains, finally 
toiling up the long steep grade of the Chouchilla 
Mountain, tired and hungry we reach Wawona 
Hotel. 

The Mariposa Grove of big trees in the distance 
is a pleasant half day's ride from Wawona. The 
" big trees " are famous throughout the world. 
They w^ere discovered in California in 1849 t>y Mr. 
Burney, Sheriff of Mariposa County, hence the 
name '' Mariposa Grove." There are at least ten 
groves of big trees scattered along the western 
front of the Sierra Range for a distance of 200 
miles. The immense Redwood trees of the Coast 
Range of Mountains are closely related to the 
" Sequoias, " as the big trees are scientifically 
called, in honor of a Cherokee chief of Alabama, a 
benefactor of his people. 

Names have been given to the largest trees. 
Here is " George Washington," a tree over ninety 
feet in circumference. You meet " Longfellow " 
and " Whittier " and admire '' Vircrinia " and 



364 TRA VELS, 

" Ohio." The names of other persons and States 
appear. Trees of the greatest circumference are 
found in the Mariposa Grove. Ten trees measure 
each from eighty to ninety feet in circumference. As 
many trees measure over 250 feet in height. The 
tallest Sequoia tree accurately measured is called 
the " Keystone State," 325 feet in height, in the 
Calaveras Grove to the north. There are 365 Se- 
quoias in the Mariposa Grove from a foot to thirty 
feet in diameter, included within a tract of four 
square miles, which is dedicated forever to the 
public. 

The Sequoia Cone is a small thing, the size of a 
hen's ^^Z^ averaging two inches in length. Three 
years elapse from the budding to the ripening of 
the seed. The Sequoias are easily reared from the 
seed in suitable climates. Many of these trees are 
now growing, and in widely separate parts of the 
world ; the latter fact makes all the more singu- 
lar the restricted limits of their native nursery. 
The Sequoia, like the Redwood is light, easily 
worked and receives a high polish. It is generally 
of a pale red tint, and some specimens are beauti- 
fully marked. 

A famous tree is "The Mother of the Forest ", a 
giantess, and worthy of the title of mother. Con- 
trast the m.an sitting in the cavity. Many of the 
big trees have been much reduced in size and hol- 
lowed out by fire. Sixteen horses are said to have 
stood at one time in the hollow of the " Haverford ". 
Sermons have been preached to seventy persons all 



7RA VELS. 365 

standing on the stump of a Sequoia. It took five 
men twenty-two days to cut down one of these big 
trees. The bark of one was removed to Syden- 
ham Crystal Palace, London, and it astonished all 
Europeans. 

The tree " Wawona " emphasizes more than 
all others the prodigious size of the Sequoias. 
Stages drive through a living big tree. The Wa- 
wona is twenty-seven feet in diameter. The w^agon 
road tunnel is ten feet high ; nine and a half feet at 
the bottom, sloping to six and a half feet at the 
top. 

The Sequoias are quick of growth, and people 
who have counted the rings of wood vary in their 
conclusions as to the age from one thousand to four 
thousand years. 

Refreshing sleep at Wawona Hotel and we are 
again en route to the Yosemite Valley. Here is In- 
spiration Point. Our journey of many miles from 
Wawona has been up long steep grades, through 
heavy growth of timber, along edges of cliffs, skirt- 
ing precipitous mountains. The ruggedness in- 
creases till we reach this grand view from Inspiration 
Point. Here artists linger. The valley is a gorge, 
or canon of extraordinary depth that abounds in 
forest trees and unsurpassed waterfalls. The aver- 
age height of vertical walls is over 3,000 feet. 
Here are bold projecting angles and deep gaps 
through which torrents of water descend to the 
valley. At the time of its discovery it did not 
attract special attention. Six years later S. M. 



366 TRA VELS. 

Cunningham, now keeper of Mariposa Big Trees, 
and Beardsley, put up a rough trading-post and 
hotel, and sight-seers began to come. 

Yosemite means ''grizzly bear", and was the 
name of a tribe of Indians who made this valley 
their home. Now, all but half a dozen have fled 
with the setting sun. 

The Yosemite Valley is over seven miles long 
and from half a mile to two miles in width. The 
valley's area is 8480 acres, or about fifty 160 acre 
farms. There are stretches of open meadow and for- 
ests of handsome oaks, pines, and other trees — no Se- 
quoias. The Manzanita, however, with its oddly 
contorted red stems and olive-green leaves and the 
buckeye with its broad leaves and long plumes of 
snow blossoms follow you into the valley. 

Here is the Rock El Capitan, or Captain, the 
Merced a trout river flowing peacefully at its base. 
How trim and stately the pines on the bank ! High 
over all this is one vast block of granite 3,300 feet 
above the stream. The south and the west faces 
are nearly abrupt angles almost vertical. Few signs 
of vegetation are on this immense cliff. Part way 
up, in an indentation, grows a lone pine tree one 
hundred and twenty-five feet high. Try to climb 
even the debris at the foot and you easily are led 
to believe that El Capitan is twent3^-five times as 
high as the pine. The face is equal to a one hun- 
dred and sixty acre farm. 

The Three Brothers are on the same side of the 
valley, and above, and adjoining El Capitan, are 



TRA VELS. 367 

more enormous peaks springing from a common base 
and rising granite above granite, the slender pines 
their only rivals. These three cliffs seem to lean 
over the valley. " Eagle Peak " is 3830 feet above 
the Merced, and the views of Yosemite, and the 
vast scope of the high Sierra Mountains are inde- 
scribably grand. Opposite are the " Cathedral 
Spires," " Sentinel Rock," and " Dome." 

Across the valley the Bridal Veil Falls charms 
every beholder. The stream is fed by Ostrander 
Lake in the mountains a dozen miles south, and 
rarely exceeds fifty feet in width at the top, but has 
an unimpeded fall of 600 feet, (or 900 feet including 
the cascade below). Many consider the Bridal Veil 
the most beautiful of all the pictures in the Yosemite 
Gallery. Often breezes catch the clear stream below 
the brink and sway it, first one side, then the other, 
with long sweeping motions of ideal grace. The 
water in its descent divides into myriads of minia- 
ture comets, or sheets of comminuted spray, and 
under the sun sparkles like diamond dust. The 
rising spray at the top of this graceful lace-like Fall, 
converted by the sun's rays into a rainbow, became 
a radiant crown fit for nature's rarest handi- 
work. 

For a background we have the Stoneman Hotel, 
built by the State at a cost of $40,000. It stands 
on the south side of the upper part of the valley 
under Glacier Point. Looking up, the large white 
flag at McCauley's Hotel seems like a handkerchief 
floating in the wind. Barnard's is down the valley, 



368 TRA VELS. 

where are grouped a chapel, school-house, post and 
telegraph offices, and a country store. 

F'or those who prefer camp life, the commission- 
ers have set apart a portion of ground in the upper 
valley on the north side of the Merced River 
beneath *' Royal Arches." Here fine oaks shelter 
from the sun, and thickets of young spruce and 
cedar afford enjoyable privacy. A pasture is free. 
Hay and grain are for sale, also staple articles of 
food. The completion of the Continental Railway 
has greatly increased tourist travel so that nearly 
three thousand persons annually visit Yosemite, a 
total of over fifty thousand visitors to date, coming 
from all parts of the world. The fare from San 
Francisco is $40 to $50. 

Early in the morning tourists seek Mirror Lake, 
of world-wide celebrity. It is set in Tenaya Canon 
between the " North" and '' Half Domes," that far 
overtop the dome of St. Peters. " Cloud's Rest " 
and Mt. Watkins are beyond. How clear the reflec- 
tion of the shrubbery, pines, and overlooking 
heights! The effect is best in the early morning 
before the breezes have arisen. Here also are very 
clear echoes. The many kinds of ferns and flower- 
ing plants add to the charms. Eagles soar above 
the granite peaks, and robins, larks and humming 
birds swarrn in the valley. 

Beyond the Stoneman Hotel is Cathedral Rock, 
opposite El Capitan ; on the south side stand Cathe- 
dral Rock and spires. Sentinel Rock and Dome. 
Without waterfalls Yosemite would be rendered 



TRA VELS. 369 

famous by nature's stupendous masonry. The 
granite walls are a succession of majestic peaks and 
domes eloquent in thought and design. 

The Vernal Fall is as perfect a picture of beauty 
as the world affords. On this artists are agreed. 
The width at the top of the Fall is eighty feet. 
The stream of emerald water shoots down three 
hundred and fifty feet into a narrow canon begirt 
by mountain slopes and peaks of wild grandeur. 

A mile farther up the Merced River is Nevada 
Fall. This Fall has gained great celebrity. The 
surrounding scenery is superb, and the Fall itself is 
about twice as great as the Vernal, or over six hun- 
dred feet (605). The wind often sways the Fall 
back and forth like a silver apron. Near the foot is 
the Casa Nevada snow-house. To the left the trail 
leads to " Cloud's Rest ; " the right to '* Glacier 
Point," three thousand two hundred and fifty feet 
above the valley floor. Looking out from Glacier 
Point over the valley the view of the high Sierra is 
unspeakably grand. 

The beauty of Vernal and Nevada Falls is 
enhanced by the Cap of Liberty in the background. 
This gigantic rock is so-called because of a fancied 
resemblance between the outline of the granite and 
the Cap of Liberty on an old-fashion coin. This 
monolith lifts its noble form two thousand feet 
above the Vernal Fall. In place of feathers, fra- 
grant pines adorn the Cap. 

Now returning to the valley westward we are in 
the presence of the Yosemite Falls. They are on the 



370 TRAVELS. 

north side of the valley. Of the three divisions of 
the Falls the upper has the greatest height, about 
fifteen hundred feet. The middle division is a series 
of cascades, a descent of six hundred and twenty- 
six feet. Then another downward fall of over four 
hundred feet, or a grand total of 2,526 of descent. 
There is no known equal amount of water making 
a single plunge of 1500 feet like the upper Yosem- 
ite Falls. 

The Yosemite Creek that supplies these triple 
falls is fed by melting snows. As this stream is apt 
in August to ** go dry," its magnificence is best 
seen early in the season. Many consider the Yo- 
semite Falls the most awe inspiring in the world. 
Nature's three masterpieces are Niagara, Yellow- 
stone Canon and Yosemite Valley. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE ITALY OF AMERICA. 

American Italy. Rocky Mountains. The Garden of the 
Gods. Marshall Pass. Pike's Peak. Father Junipero Serra, 
Catholic Missions. Gold Mining, Justice Field, and Terry. 
San Francisco and its Palace Hotel Senator Leland Stanford. 
His University. The Chinese Question. A Joss House. The 
Cliff House. The Seals. Columbia River. Salmon Fishing. 

I MADE my third trip to the Pacific Coast in 1890 
and another in 1893, and was more than ever 
delighted with the climate and scenery of our 
American Italy. 

America is used in its continental sense. Where 
on this side of the globe shall a sunny Italy be 
found, if not beneath the gorgeous sunsets along 
the Pacific slope, where grow in perfection, olive, 
vine and fig, pomegranate, orange and mulberry, 
and where the year round the climate is tempered 
by snow-clad Alps and Apennines ? 

The early history of America's Italy is also 
shrouded in legend and fable of Aztec, Japanese 
and Spaniard. Like Rome, San Francisco, named 
in honor of Saint Francis, sits on her hundred hills, 
whence she is destined to wield potent scepter over 
an imperial commercial world. To reach the Italy 



372 TRAVELS. 

of America, forty years ago, brave men rounded 
Cape Horn, sailing sixteen thousand miles in search 
of gold. Others, eager to reach the new El Dorado 
beneath the golden sunsets, crossed the Rocky 
Mountains in carts drawn by lean cattle, their only 
guide being the bleached bones of animals and men 
along the dreary trail. 

Three thousand miles will not measure the wind- 
ings of the Rocky Mountains from Mexico to the 
Arctic Circle. Owing to the great breadth of 
base of the Rocky Mountains, and gentle acclivity 
or rise, especially on the east, the ascent is almost 
imperceptible, and through numerous passes, Lewis 
and Clark, the Pathfinder Fremont, traders of the 
Hudson Bay Company, and others led the way, and 
dauntless engineers have built a half dozen steel 
railways that span the Continent. 

" Man seldom, for adventure or for gain, 
To greater heights ascends. Here is the crest 

Of the great, Rocky Mountains ; East and West 
Deep toward the Atlantic and Pacific main." 

Two hours south of Denver we approach one of 
the several Rocky Mountain Gateways, leading to 
the Garden of the Gods, in Colorado. An outer 
parapet of white. From the level plain spring 
gorgeous red sandstone portals, 350 feet high, which 
flash warm greetings in brilliant cornelian. This 
famed gateway gilded by the sun, frames distant 
Pike's Peak, snow capped and seen against a sky of 
spotless blue. 



TRAVELS. 373 

" Beneath the rocky peak that hides 
In clouds its snow-flecked crest, 
Within these crimson crags abides 
An Orient in the West. 

Here the New West its wealth unlocks, 

And tears the veil aside, 
Which hides the mystic glades and rocks 

The Red man deified." 

William Allen Butler. 

Beyond the portals are weird attractions that tell 
of superhuman efforts. Here we encounter the 
Balancing Rock, a huge cubical boulder of sandstone 
that rests upon a slight apex. A lively imagination 
discovers in the park resemblances of heroes, beasts 
and birds, ancient gods, lions, griffins, dolphins, and 
other inanimate forms in stone, that suggest gro- 
tesque ideas of life and architecture. Here is a 
Cathedral Spire, there a Statue of Liberty, and the 
whole hints at ruins of vast temples of Aztec 
or other origin, once the shrines of long buried gods. 
The ascent of Pike's Peak is made either in carriage 
or on horse back. 

A narrow trail leads by steep grades along a 
mountain stream to the Marshall Pass, 10,852 feet 
above the sea, a most wonderful pathway over the 
Continental Divide. On the east, or right, the 
grades at first between low-browed hills, are only 
moderately steep ; soon hills merge into mountains, 
which press closely together. Two sturdy engines 
toil and pant. The frequent curves grow sharper 



•374 TRAVELS. 

and steeper ; banks of snow and tangled masses of 
half dead forests are on either side. How the loops 
of the skilful engineer double upon themselves ! 
He could not tunnel such ponderous granite 
masses. 

Finally the summit is reached and to the north 
we behold Pike's Peak, Summit and Signal Station, 
said to be the highest in the world. Many persons 
remember the rush for gold in 1858 to Pike's Peak. 
From the miner's camp at its foot, on the banks of 
the Platte River, sprang Denver, the phenominal 
** Queen City of the Plains." From this height 
Colorado, larger than England, Scotland and Wales, 
is seen in all its harmonious confusion ; lofty peaks, 
mountain hemmed valleys, cloud patched plains, 
parks, silver-like rivers and lakes. To the South 
is the "■ Royal Gorge " or Grand Canon of the 
Arkansas River. Under its gigantic granite cliffs 
for a hundred miles, in a narrow bed, struggle river 
and railway. 

West are seen the heights of the Mount of the 
Holy Cross. The snow white cross, emblem of 
Christian hope, in beauty shines against an azure 
sky. Eternal snow fills the two transverse canons 
of great depth, lengthwise and crosswise on the 
mountain's summit; 



Where long ago the Titans fought 
And hurled for missils, mountains, 

Where nature's God hath roughest wrought, 
Where springs the purest fountains." 



TRAVELS. 375 

Two years after Longfellow's death the following 
lines were found in his portfolio, — 

" There is a mountain in the distant West 
That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines 
Displays a cross of snow upon its side ; 
Such is the cross I wear upon my breast 

These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes 
And seasons, changeless since the day she died." 

From ocean to ocean man is busy with pick, plow? 
and sparks snatched from the clouds. An electrical 
signal by a sentinel on Pike's Peak is noticed 
throughout America. 

From this exalted mount of faith the optimist 
sees before the Century closes an electrical railway 
darting from Atlantic to the Pacific in a short space 
of time. '' Sunrise Electrical coaches " will leave 
New York's Statue of Liberty, the sun half risen 
in the Atlantic ; with passenges jubilant across the 
continent beneath Aurora skies, the Golden Gate of 
the Pacific is sighted ; still the morning sunlit 
clouds are visible; behold, time is annihilated. 

Our Italy, ''California", is Spanish for hot fur- 
nace; the term first applied to Lower California, 
part of Mexico's possessions. The California we 
behold was discovered 350 years ago, 1542, by Juan 
Cabrillo, a navigator in the service of Spain. This 
Pacific Empire, second only to Texas, is 250 miles 
wide and 750 miles long, and larger than New Eng- 
land and New York combined. The Sacramento 
and San Joaquin Rivers, rising in the foot hills of 
Northern and Southern California, each runs 300 



37^ TRA VELS. 

miles in opposite directions, draining the rich val- 
leys that lie between the Sierra Nevada and the 
Coast range of mountains, into San Francisco Bay. 
Much of the former Alpine range is 8,000 feet above 
the sea. It has a hundred snow-clad granite peaks 
(13,000 feet) two and a half miles high that look 
out on the Pacific. San Francisco Bay, 60 miles 
long and 15 wide, can float the navies of the world. 
San Francisco is built on sand hills. The Golden 
Gate is a strait, two miles wide and seven long that 
connects the Bay with the Pacific Ocean. The Gol- 
den Gate sunsets are famous. 

In 1768 Father Junipero Serra, with eleven com- 
panions, all Franciscan Priests, came from Mexico 
to continue missionary labor among the Indians 
along the coast of California, a work which the self- 
sacrificing Jesuits had carried on since 1601, for 
150 years. The bells of Catholic Mexico rang out 
a peal of triumph when news reached the capital 
that the Franciscans had met with success. The 
divine mysteries of faith were first celebrated on 
rustic altars beneath the grateful shade of live oaks. 
Soon houses and chapels were built for missionaries, 
and barracks for soldiers, the whole encircled by 
palisades. 

A new station founded, the enthusiastic Serra 
hung aloft and rang out his mission bells, and 
called to natives of plain and valley to sit beneath 
the cross of peace. Thus were planted the missions 
of San Diego, Mt. Carmel, Santa Clara, San Gabriel, 
San Rafael, San Luis Rey and others. With azure 




MISSION GARDEN, SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA. 



77?^ VELS. 377 

banners of the Blessed Virgin unfurled, these intre- 
pid missionaries, trusting their God, planted the 
cross at the foot of many a Sierra on fertile plains, 
or near hostile Indian villages. Venerable Serra 
died in 1784 eager to the last to plant more mis- 
sions. Ten thousand Indians were baptized. 

Tribes on the Pacific Slope varied in language 
and race ; they went naked, or wore an apron of 
fringe or a cloak of skins. For sustenance they 
relied on fishing and hunting, or seeds and herbs. 
Their canoes were well made, and shells served for 
money. They believed in witchcraft, medicine-men, 
jugglery, and indulged in various dances. The mis- 
sionaries often were stripped, and slain by arrows 
and wooden swords. Later California missions, 
which began about the period of the American 
Revolution, attained a wonderful degree of prosper- 
ity. Some of the buildings were 250 feet square; 
in one end were church and parsonage. The inter- 
ior galleries faced a court adorned with trees and 
fountains on which opened the rooms of the mis- 
sionaries, stewards, travelers, shops, schools, store- 
rooms and granaries. Indian girls were taught to 
spin and weave. Indian workmen built roads, 
bridges, canals for irrigation, and mills. 

At day-break bells summoned to prayers, and 
breakfast followed ; then all joined bands for regu- 
lar work, the good friars directing by advice and 
example, for they possessed the art of making labor 
attractive — food and clothing their only reward. 
All rested from eleven till two, when labor com- 



37.^ TRA VELS, 

menced again and lasted till the mission bells were 
heard an hour before sunset. The evening was 
spent in innocent amusements. Their flocks sup- 
plied fresh beef and mutton, their fields grain, fruit 
and vegetables in abundance. 

Groups of missionaries and converts, clothed in 
Spanish costume, and bright blankets and handker- 
chiefs made pictures not unlike those seen in sunny 
Italy. 

San Luis Rey was founded among the Kechis. By 
the beautiful banks of the San Luis, in 1798, the 
illustrious Father Peyri raised a thatched cottage. 
He brought only a few cattle and converted Indians, 
but there arose the greatest of California Missions. 
From its stone church there rises a beautiful tower 
and dome. The colonnade was five hundred feet 
long, and the width of the building was equally great. 
Father Peyri directed San Luis Rey for thirty- 
four years. He had 3500 Indians scattered over 
twenty ranches, and peace and plenty reigned. Fifty 
years ago (1837) the Missions contained 30,650 
Indians, 62,500 horses, 321,500 sheep, 424,000 head 
of c.attle, and raised 122,500 bushels of wheat. Each 
autumn, vessels sailed away ladened with bread 
stuffs, wine, oil, hemp, hide and tallow, and returned 
with clothes and tobacco and other articles. Finally 
under nev/ authorities and a new population these 
famous Missions and their Indian converts have 
disappeared. 

Gold was discovered in 1848. In February of 
the same year Upper California was ceded by treaty 



TRAVELS, 379 

to the United States, and Sept. 9th, 1850 California 
was admitted into the Union. A saw mill on the 
south Fork of the American River, 60 miles east of 
Sacramento, was being built for Captain Sutter, 
once an officer in the Swiss Guards of Charles X., 
January 19th, 1848, J. W. Marshall discovered in 
this mill-race bright scales which proved to be gold. 
This startling information soon agitated the whole 
Pacific Coast. Business was neglected ; ripened 
grain was left unharvested. Sailors abandoned 
their vessels, and soldiers deserted ; all flocking to 
the mines. The wind bore the news world-wide 
and there followed the wildest gold fever excite- 
ment ever experienced in any part of the civilized 
globe. Every nation sent its quota of bold adven- 
turers. Sailing vessels carried thousands via Panama, 
or round Cape Horn. Tens of thousands facing 
disease, hunger and Indians, bravely struck out 
towards the setting sun in carts, and on foot, across 
deserts and mountains, " trusting to luck", and those 
who survived poured down the Sierra Nevada Moun- 
tains, into the land of gold. Could the vast number 
that perished by the way be collected, their skele- 
tons would lie closer than the ties on the Continental 
railways. 

Gold was found in all the streams flowing from 
the Sierra Nevada Mountains into the Sacramento 
and San Joaquin Rivers. Mountain streams cutting 
their way through granite, slate and quartz, brought 
down among the gravel bright scales and nuggets 
of the precious metal. The hillsides in all the 



380 TRAVELS. 

ravines were covered with canvas tents and bush 
arbors. Most of the miners formed bands of three, 
five or ten, under command of one of their number. 
Little or no capital was required, but pick, shovel, 
tin pan and food were essentials. Some, in washing 
the gold, used close-woven Indian blankets, others 
a rude machine with coarse sieve or rockers called 
a cradle. Ardent search with long handled shovels 
was made among stone and gravel in dried up 
creeks, by the side of large rocks, in blue clay, in 
clumps of bushes, or under banks and roots of trees. 
For a moment the eye brightened if perchance, a 
lump of gold was found ; every faculty was absorbed, 
complete silence reigned, as the miners beneath 
scorching sun, or in cold water, waist deep, made 
their intense search for the shining treasure that 
commands the pleasures of the world. From fifty 
to a hundred dollars a day was made by each miner, 
and often larger and fabulous amounts. The largest 
nugget of gold ever found was worth $148,000. 

Placer mining at length yielded to quartz mills. 
The product of the gold mines of California from 
1 854-1 865 may be estimated at $1,000,000,000. 
This influx of gold created a new era of prosperity 
throughout the world. 

Justice Field of our United States Supreme Court, 
and Judge Terry, were both old "■ forty-niners". 
Many in California to-day recall Judge Field in 1859 
as he walked the streets of Maysville, near Sacra- 
mento, with six shooters in each pocket, and cocked 
his weapons when Judge Terry came in sight. 



TRAVELS. 381 

In those early days politics in San Francisco had 
gone from bad to worse. Crimes were committed 
and criminals escaped. The great fire of May 4th 
occured. June the 8th, *' The Alta" called for a 
committee of safety. Three days later the first 
Vigilance Committee was formed. Two taps on 
the engine house bell, and the Committee assembled. 
At ten in the evening Jenkins, a low type, was 
caught in the act of burglary on Long Wharf. The 
examination occupied two hours. '' Guilty" was 
the verdict, and Jenkins was hanged at midnight 
from a projecting beam of the old adobe structure 
on the Plaza. The police were powerless. The 
authorities tried to implicate some of the parties 
engaged in the trial, but the Committee boldly 
declared that all their members were equally impli- 
cated and that their firm intention was to purify 
the city. Popular justice held the sceptre of power. 
It was a confession of the past inactivity and sin of 
the whole community. In June and August the 
Committee hanged villains and frightened the law- 
less. Not vengeance, but Justice, was the cry. The 
committee did not cease its activity till devotion to 
the duty of citizenship was greatly quickened. 

Judge Terry represented the ultra Southern ele- 
ment in California. In less than five years political 
and social corruption again led to lawlessness in city 
government and disasters in business. For six 
months heroic King in his new paper, *' The Bul- 
letin," sought vigorously to arouse the public con- 
science. In May 1856 he was shot by Casey, an ex- 



382 TRAVELS. 

convict and low politician. Popular excitement rose 
to white heat. A martyr to public spirit had fallen. 
To prevent mob law a Business Man's Revolution 
occurred. The second Vigilance, or Great Commit- 
tee was organized, numbering thousands of capable 
men and soldiers. Casey and Cora, who had shot a 
United States Marshal, were taken from jail, tried, 
and executed in front of the Committee's rooms. 
To purify municipal politics was its great mission. 
The Committee was opposed by Johnson, Governor 
of California, who was under the influence of Terry, 
Chief Justice of the State. He described the 
Committee to General Sherman as '' Damned Pork 
Merchants." A collision with the State authorities 
was imminent ; so in front of the Committee's 
rooms a strong barricade of sand bags was erected 
and cannons mounted. The same Judge Terry 
whom Nagle afterwards slew, cut down Hopkins, a 
police of the Vigilance Committee, in discharge of 
his duty. The alarm bell was sounded, and Terry 
was taken prisoner amidst tremendous excitement, 
to Fort Gunnybags, where he lay for seven 
weeks. He proved however, a white elephant, and 
later was liberated after the people had elected city 
ofificers to carry on in a legal way the reform which 
had been begun without law. 

Judge Terry later slew Broderick, and at the 
Lathrop Railway Depot offered gross insult to an 
unoffending member of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. Mr. Charles E. Siseme, an English 
traveler, was present in the breakfast room of the 



TRAVELS. 383 

Lathrop Railway Station, saw Terry assault Judge 
Field, saw the ruffian shot dead, but went on calmly 
eating his breakfast at the same table. Doubtless 
this English gentleman was conscious of being well 
informed of the customs of America, and did not 
propose to acknowledge himself a '* tender-foot ", 
or be astonished even if a murder was served with 
his coffee. 

San Francisco, the city of " One Hundred Hills", 
and metropolis of the Pacific Coast, is approached 
from pretty Oakland by ferry-steamers across a sail 
flecked bay. It is five miles from ferry-slip to 
ferry-slip. Oakland the Eastern terminus is the 
Brooklyn of San Francisco, a delightful suburb of 
50,000 people. The avenues are oak shaded and 
lined with beautiful homes, that are not surpassed 
for shrubbery and flowers the year round. San 
Francisco, stands on the eastern shore of the north 
end of a peninsula, not unlike New York, at the 
base of sandy hills and on a slope that extends into 
the Bay. 

Alcatraz Island, strongly fortified, is in the fore- 
ground ; beyond on the right, the Golden Gate that 
conducts into the Pacific. The highest point to the 
right is Telegraph Hill, whence are seen the mag- 
nificent Bay that covers 400,000 acres, Goat and 
other rock-ribbed islands. 

The avenues, streets and alleys of the city number 
1200 and cross one another at right angles. In 
early days, people fearing earth-quakes built mostly 
of wood. At six different times the city was des- 



384 TRAVELS. 

troyed by fearful fires. Now on every important 
street appear structures of brick, stone, and iron. 
The brown and blue stone come from Angel 
Island in the Bay. 

The fire department now is one of the best in 
America. Fifty steamers, hose carriages, and ladder 
trucks are operated by three hundred and seventy 
five skilled men. San Francisco has taught the 
world the use of cable roads. She boasts of thirty- 
three libraries and reading-rooms, thirty-five banks 
of deposit and savings, thirty-nine hospitals, forty 
military organizations, one hundred and twenty- 
seven church organizations, one hundred and sixty- 
eight newspapers, three hundred and eighty-five 
clubs, social and benevolent societies, and schools, 
public and private, are in abundance. The popu- 
lation of San Francisco is nearly 350,000, and total 
value of real and personal property for 1885 was 
$300,000,000. San Francisco is cooler in July by 
17° than New York or Cincinnati. 

In the distance stands the Palace Hotel, one of 
fifty in San Francisco, centrally located, a kingly 
structure ; it occupies a triplicate hollow quad- 
rangle, covers an entire block of three acres, fire 
and earthquake proof, and is one of the model 
hotels of the world. The Grand Central Court, 84 
by 144 feet is entered by a broad carriage way, 
which expands into a circular drive, 52 feet in 
diameter, surrounded by a marble tiled promenade 
and tropical garden of rare exotics, statuary and 
fountains. The effect of electric lights is superb. 



TRAVELS. 385 

Seven hundred and fifty-five large, light and airy- 
guest rooms, equally well furnished, are easy of 
access, from ornamental corridors. Above this 
court the blue sky is seen through a crystal roof. 
Each room has bath and closet, electric enunciator, 
fire-alarm, and pneumatic dispatch tube for letters 
and parcels. The grand dining-room is one hun- 
dred and fifty feet long. You may adopt the 
American, or European plan. 

The Baldwin cost $3,500,000. The appointments 
and service in the Grand Pacific or Baldwin prob- 
ably surpass any hotel in Europe. 

Cable cars on California Street take us to the 
home of Senator Leland Stanford, to whom the 
future historian of the Pacific Coast will assign a 
prominent place in the stirring events of the wonder- 
ful early developments of California. 

Leland Stanford was born in Albany County, 
New York, March 9th, 1824. Farm work and 
winter study made him a keen student of material 
things, and at twenty he began the study of law. 
Admitted to practice, he settled in 1848 at Port 
Washington, Wisconsin. Two years later he re- 
turned home to marry Jane Lathrop, a most esti- 
mable daughter of Dyer Lathrop, a respected mer- 
chant of Albany. Fire destroyed his law library, 
but not his determination to succeed. New plans 
were formed. July T2th, 1852, he joined his broth- 
ers in California, who were engaged in mining and 
trade. Later importing was added, and branch 
houses were scattered through the State. The 



386 TRAVELS. 

magnitude of transactions quickened Stanford's 
keen perceptions and natural aptitude for adminis- 
tration of affairs. 

The Civil War found him a staunch friend of the 
Union. At the Chicago Convention in i860 he 
voted for Lincoln. His acquaintance with Lincoln 
ripened into confidence and intimacy, so that he 
became the able and trusted adviser of the Presi- 
dent and Cabinet, in the perilous crisis in i860 
when California was in danger of following the 
bad example of the South. In 1861 by 23,000 
plurality he was elected, and became the War 
Governor of his state. His grasp of state and 
national affairs exhibited sound common sense and 
comprehensiveness. Nature gave him a powerful 
physical organization ; the study of law and exten- 
sive business developed extraordinary powers of 
observation and generalization, and Stanford soon 
became the master spirit of the Central Pacific 
Railroad. 10,000 Chinamen were employed in con- 
structing over the rugged Sierra Nevada Moun- 
tains five hundred and thirty miles of railway 
in two hundred and ninety-three days. Leland 
Stanford built other Pacific railroads and was 
also interested in agriculture and manufacturing. 

March 4th, 1885, ^^^ took his seat in the United 
States Senate. But the establishing and endowing 
of the Leland Stanford Junior University, will go 
down in history as an act perhaps unparalleled in 
the annals of public benefactions. The University 
bears the name of Senator Stanford's lamented, 



TRAVELS. 387 

only child, who was much interested in education. 
On November 15th, 1885, the Trustees of this new 
University heard read the Deed of Trust, which 
had been engrossed in a huge volume of parchment, 
in the old illustrated style. By the grant the 
Trustees received 83,200 acres of most valuable 
estates in several counties of California. The Palo 
Alto Estate, the largest horse farm in the world, 
where the buildings, one story in height, are con- 
structed, lies twenty miles south of San Francisco. 
The Vina Ranch in the Sacramento Valley com- 
prises 55,000 acres ; on 3,575 acres are 2,860,000 
vines, a vineyard larger than any three vineyards 
in the world. The Gridley Ranch includes 20,000 
acres of valuable wheat lands. The combined 
domains are thirteen miles in length and ten in 
breadth, or one hundred and thirty square miles ; 
in area, equal to that occupied by the City of Lon- 
don, and in quality not surpassed by the garden 
lands of England. Most of Stanford's gift of field 
and forest, with live oaks dotting the golden stub- 
ble, gives the appearance of a vast well-kept park. 
Other large endowments to the University are made 
in Stanford's will, a total of over $30,000,000. The 
University is to be of highest grade, including the 
study of Art, Agriculture and Mechanics, and Co- 
operation. Stanford believed that the civilized 
world had become a great neighborhood in whose 
markets all producers compete. By co-operation 
each individual has the benefit of the intellectual 
and physical forces of his associates. The Uniyer- 



388 TRA VELS. 

sity affords equal advantage to both sexes, prohib- 
its sectarian instruction, but will teach the immor- 
tality of the Soul, and the obedience to an all-wise 
Creator as the highest duty of man. The University 
opened in September, 1890. 

On Nob Hill are seen some of the most costly 
private residences in America ; homes of the rail- 
way and Bonanza kings. One was the residence of 
Mark Hopkins, who left to his widow a fortune 
of $30,000,000. Nearby is the cream-colored man- 
sion of Ex-Governor Stanford that cost $2,500,000. 
Also costly residences of Flood, Colton, Crocker 
and other millionaireSo The view here is very 
grand of city, bay, mountain ranges and Pacific. 

The Chinese Quarters offer varied attractions 
to all tourists. Thousands of Mongolians swarm 
in the business center, in a rectangular block of old 
buildings seven squares in length by three in width. 
The stores of rich Chinese merchants flank the main 
streets. Architecture, decorations, signs and plac- 
ards in red and gilt give shop fronts an Oriental 
aspect. Firm signs are not used, but fanciful signs 
like " man wo ". There are ten thousand harm- 
onies, that suggest good luck. 

In the same store several kinds of business are 
often conducted. The Chinese receive you with 
much courtesy, employers are calm and serene, and 
too conservative ever to be in a hurry. '' Be seated 
please", John Chinaman says in broken English. 
Cigars, or wine, or tea in finest cups are offered. In 
sight are lovely silks, paper goods, boxes of tea, 




ROSE TREE, SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA. 



TRA VELS. 389 

bags of rice, dried fish and vegetables, preserved 
watermelon, fresh imported sugar-cane for children, 
sprouted seeds, fresh pigs and poultry, nutritious 
portions of beans in round yellow packages, 
indescribable mixtures, the smell of opium, raw and 
cooked. Odors numberless, all combined, are worse 
than air below deck in a storm. In filthy attics 
and cellars are shops and factories. Here the 
Mongolian patiently toils, eats with chop-sticks, 
and sleeps on shelves with wooden boxes for pil- 
lows. Here in underground dens, around greasy 
tables, he gambles, smokes, and sluggishly dreams 
of friends in far-off China, and his favorite gods. 

There are a half-dozen Joss Houses, or Chinese 
Temples, in the city. A Protestant Church even 
has been changed into an abode of heathen gods. 
Numbers of these temples are on the Pacific Coast, 
where are found ^' gods many and lords many ", 
goddesses, divinities, tablets, inscriptions, incense 
sticks and urns, grotesque carvings, gongs, and 
bells to arouse the gods when too drowsy to hear 
prayers ; also priests to preach on certain feast 
days, and birth-days of gods and goddesses, when 
crowds throng the temples with prayers and offer- 
ings. The central figure is the "Water god," 
who eats vegetables only. To become brave the 
military sage is worshipped. Christianity is making 
only feeble efforts to teach our oriental friends a 
better way. You are shown the " Eastern Glorious 
Temple ", chiefly owned by a Chinese quack doctor. 
A Chinese doctor in San Francisco is said to enjoy 



390 TRA VELS. 

an income from the practice of his profession of 
$6,000 per month. He has been in America nearly 
thirty years^ and many Caucasians are among his 
patients. 

The two principle theatres are on Jackson Street 
and face each other. Entering the Royal Chinese 
Theatre we see a thousand men with hats on, sit- 
ting on backs of seats usually, and smoking and 
eating. The stage has no drop curtain, flies or 
shifting scenes. The orchestra at the rear of the 
stage, keeps up an infernal din with gongs, guitars, 
cymbals and triangles, throughout a dialogue which 
usually represents historical events of a dynasty, 
or some interesting national epoch. The plot is 
developed slowly, the trifles of Chinese life are 
portrayed faithfully, and months are often consumed 
before the last act is closed. Actors may indulge 
in a little dancing on the stage, but Chinamen 
never dance off the stage. On either side of the 
performers, in sight of the audience, often lounge a 
dozen actors munching sugar cane or sweetmeats. 
Applause is rarely given. Those who go at eight 
pay four bits, at ten, two bits, later a single bit. A 
bit is 10, \2\ or 15 cents, as change can be made. 

There are three thousand Chinese women in San 
Francisco, and as many more in other parts of 
America. Not one in ten is said to be a legal wife. 
Over five thousand of them are sold into a hopeless 
bondage worse than death. They are bought in 
China for one hundred to three hundred dollars 
each, and sold in America at a hundred per cent 



TRAVELS. 391 

advance. " Hop Yee Tong " the '' Temple of 
United Justice" is an association of several hun- 
dred of Chinese villains, termed by the press 
" High-binders ", '' Destroying Angels ", organized 
to protect the owners of these slave-women in their 
nefarious business on our shores. 

Marriage without courtship is the fate of the 
Chinese girl ; a civil contract. All is arranged by 
parents or guardians. It is doubtful, perhaps, if 
our system of boy and girl courtship results in 
better average life settlements than the decision of 
Chinese parents, unmoved by fancy and romance. 
A persistent habit of loquacity on the part of some 
lady, is sufficient cause for divorce. In China there 
are the large footed or field-women, who work with 
the men in the fields, and the small-footed women, 
who are expected to be helpless and useless like 
some fine ladies of other countries. This is the 
result when the child's feet are checked in growth, 
and education is totally disregarded. Chinese 
civilization long ago rose to the level of their wo- 
men and gods. 

The Chinese at home number 400,000,000. 
They occupy one of the fairest portions of the 
globe. The number is too large to admit of much 
education among the masses, but the Confucian 
system of morals taught in schools and temples is 
pure and elevating, and deals with the relations 
between children, parents, husbands, wives, magis- 
trates and Emperor. Their language is monosyl- 
labic, hence thought is communicated rapidly. The 



392 TRA VELS. 

people excel in agriculture, in the manufacture 
of pottery, cotton goods, silks and satins. The 
ruling class are superior in memory, in political 
economy, and in diplomacy, and favor an exclusive 
policy. The four hundred millions are ruled by 
brain power, perhaps unsurpassed, and naturally 
the Chinese with a history of four thousand years, 
consider themselves at the head of the human race. 

The common workmen of the Empire receive 
from fifteen to twenty cents per day. They spend 
half of this on rice, vegetables, and now and then a 
little fish and pork ; usually the food is mixed and 
cut fine. They are of necessity industrious and 
frugal in the extreme. By almost unexampled 
privations they obtain the passage money to Amer- 
ica. In San Francisco you meet them, two hun- 
dred or more, as peddlers among the homes, with 
fresh vegetables and fruits in baskets suspended 
from shoulder poles. As servants everywhere, kind 
and reliable ; in the fruit and wheat fields, vineyards 
and mines of the Coast toiling patiently and faith- 
fully ; in shops and factories, intelligent and trusty, 
making overalls, shirts, cigars, shoes and other 
needed articles. The Chinese, like Americans and 
English who go to China, come to America to make 
money to better their condition at home, of which 
they are very fond. 

The Chinaman sought in the East the Golden 
Mountains of California with the same hopes of 
improving his condition, as have all Europeans in 
their pilgrimage to America. To the oppressed 



TRAVELS. 393 

Asiatic, the same as to the down-trodden European, 
was bequeathed equally all advantages accruing 
under the manhood Government of our Republic. 
What was the European's, was the Asiatic's by 
divine right, and by the principles of the Declara- 
tion. The good people of the Pacific Coast seem 
to be pursuing a phantom. It is true that the 
Chinese, 200,000 strong, have entered, the Golden 
Gate. But thrice the total Asiatic immigration of 
twenty-five years, come annually from Europe to 
America. The average number each year out of 
the European immigration that find at public 
expense, refuge in asylums, hospitals, prisons and 
factories, is larger than the total average annual 
arrival of Chinese. By hasty decision, we dishon- 
ored a Treaty forced by us upon China, imperiling 
the lives of Americans in the Empire, and a com- 
merce with the Chinese rich in its future promise. 
Already the madness of the sand-hill mob has sub- 
sided, and faithful John Chinaman on our shores 
furnishes a problem for Christian statesmen to 
solve. A wise treatment of this question will 
largely increase our trade with that vast Empire on 
our western coast. 

The Cliff House, hangs on the brink of a bold 
cliff 200 feet above the Pacific Ocean. It is six 
miles west of Woodsworth's Gardens in the city, 
and the Golden Gate Park of a thousand acres is en 
route. These three beautiful breathing places, 
reached by cable cars, are all-the-year-round resorts, 
and music is furnished free Saturdays and Sun- 



394 TRA VELS. 

days. Still higher up the cliff are the artistic pri- 
vate gardens of Adolph Sutro, of Sutro Tunnel 
fame. Miles of charming drives border the Golden 
Gate and reach south on the Ocean Beach. On 
the broad shady piazzas people lounge and enjoy 
the golden sunsets, or watch the seals as they bask 
in the sunlight or clumsily wriggle over the rocks, 
and their barking is heard above the roar of the 
breakers. 

The seals are a most interesting study. They 
are found in most waters, and resort in herds to 
sandy beaches, rocks, or ice floes, where they bask 
in the sun, sleep, and bring forth their young. 
Seals are timid, harmless and seem human in some 
ways. They become very fond of a keeper, have 
acute sense of smell, and are attracted by musical 
sounds. They can stay under water fifteen min- 
utes, and eat enormous quantities of fish. Like 
ourselves they are especially fond of salmon. 

Two species of seal are commercially valuable. 
The hair seal, of which 875,000 is the annual aver- 
age catch, worth $2.50 each, total, $2,187,500. The 
skin is used for leather and the oil for a luminant 
and lubricant. The hair and fur seals are from five 
to eight feet long and weigh from 300 to 800 
pounds. The latter are provided with a dense soft 
under-fur like velvet worth from five to twenty- 
five dollars each. The Alaskan Seal Company paid 
our Government, under a twenty years' lease that 
expired May I, 1890, for the privilege of taking 
100,000 seals annually in Alaskan waters, a rental 



77?^ VELS. 395 

and tax of $317,000. It is estimated that in April 
five million seals visit the Pribyloff Islands in the 
Alaskan seas, for breeding purposes. The old males 
gather each from ten to fifteen females, and jeal- 
ously guard them night and day for weeks. The 
aggregate sound of these fur seals is like the 
approach of a railroad train. The plaintive voice 
of the baby seal always enlists sympathy. A million 
and a quarter dollars value of fur seals' skins each 
year reach London, where the fur is plucked, 
dressed and dyed. 

Up the coast for seven hundred miles by steam 
to the Columbia River is a favorite ride for Cali- 
fornians. In sight, the sandy beach, beyond the 
enchanted land of a hundred Geysers, from the 
steamboat Geyser to the Witches' Cauldron ; near 
by the Petrified Forest, whose trees are a dozen 
feet in diameter. The coast range clings to the 
ocean from Lower California to the Royal Straits 
of Fuca. These mountains break into countless 
lovely valleys that reach to the sea, affording soil 
for the wild almond and coffee trees, and sheltered 
homes for those who cannot follow further the set- 
ting sun. In Humboldt County grow vast forests of 
red, white and yellow spruce, and redwoods ; the 
redwood rivals the mammoth trees of the Nevada 
Mountains. We enter the famous Columbia River, 
discovered a hundred years ago (1791) by Captain 
Gray of Boston, Now it bears the name of his 
ship. Later the whole unknown Northwest was in 
dispute between American and English fur-traders. 



39^ TRA VELS. 

An Englishman sent out to report on the merits of 
the country discovered that the kingly salmon of 
the Columbia disdained to be caught by a fly, and 
so he reported, " The country worthless, because 
the salmon would not rise to the fly " as in the 
streams of the British Islands. Hence we have an 
empire in the Northwest, grand beyond all power of 
description. 

" Such is our Nation's boast, where'er we roam, 
Our first best country, ever is our own." 

Once an old French Abbe, surprised in the 
Rocky Mountains, explained his long distance from 
Paris as follows : '* Some months ago I fainted in 
my Mission, and fancied that reaching Heaven, 
angels said, ' Father, how did you like the beauti- 
ful world you have just left ?' For the first time it 
had occurred to me that I had been too busy on 
earth to see its beauties. Restored to health, you 
see me in search of the works of God below. Let 
us climb." 

The wealth of fish in the Western waters was one 
of the strongest arguments used for holding the 
'' Far West " against the British during the '' 54° 40', 
or fight " agitation from 1840 till it culminated in a 
settlement of our title to the line of 49° North 
Latitude. 

Fishermen left New England to engage in salmon 
fishing on the Pacific Coast. The Columbia River 
was alive with the royal chinook salmon, silver 
salmon, blue-backs, steel-heads and other varieties. 



TRA VELS. 397 

The Chinook will not yield to allurements of any 
bait, but the silver salmon, some of which weigh 
40 pounds, will run after a trolling spoon. To land 
successfully these big fish, gamy as a trout, with 
ordinary tackle, requires rare skill and patience. 
The wily salmon if he can gain a bit of slack line is 
almost sure to get clear. A party of two in Tacoma 
Harbor landed two hundred in a few hours. In 
early years salmon were caught with traps and nets, 
and smoked or packed in brine. In 1865 they 
began to pack fresh fat chinook salmon in sealed 
cans. ** Columbia River salmon " came to immedi- 
ate favor as an article of luxury throughout the 
world, and commanded high prices. Now the sal- 
mon are caught with seine, gill-net, dip and pound 
nets, traps and salmon fish-wheels. 

Fishing is at its height for three months, from 
May to July. Pioneers in the business made ample 
fortunes. Salmon weigh from two and three pounds 
to seventy. Three average salmon will fill forty- 
eight one pound cans, and the four dozen cans make 
a case, which sells wholesale at from $4.50 to $6.00 
per case. Now scores of canneries, 5600 boats and 
vessels, 20,000 persons and $3,000,000 are employed 
in salmon fisheries ; total annual product $10,000,- 
000. How best to preserve the commercial interest 
of this great fish industry is being considered. 
Fish hatcheries will be established on waters tribu- 
tary to the Columbia River and Puget Sound. A 
female salmon contains in spawn at least 5,000 eggs. 
When salmon spawn naturally in shallow ripples 



39^ TRA VELS. 

their spawning beds are infested with hords of 
ravenous fish. The half-egg, half-fish, without 
mouth, tail, or fin, is but a helpless waif in the 
water, a most tempting bait for trout and other fish, 
and thus nine-tenths of the embryo salmon are 
destroyed. By artificial methods of propogation 
at least ninety per cent of the eggs are hatched and 
cared for, till the young fish are turned into the 
river, and can take care of themselves. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE ITALY OF AMERICA {Concluded^ 

Mt. Hood. Tacoma and Seattle. Puget Sound. Sacramento. 
Monterey. Lick Observatory and Telescope. Land of Flowers 
and Vines. Los Angeles. The Peaceful Pacific. 

Queenly Mount Hood, a most notable peak of 
the Cascade Range, 14,000 feet above the sea, is 
snow-clad the year through. Beyond the vast 
wheat fields of Minnesota and Dakota, beyond the 
gold and silver-ribbed mountains and rich pastures 
of Montana and Idaho, lies an imperial domain 
larger than France or Germany, and capable of 
supporting a hundred million people. What the 
snow-clad Alps are to Italy, that the Coast and 
Cascade Range, the Rocky, Blue and Bitter Root 
Mountains are to the Italy of America. Their 
interlaced spurs afford extraordinary diversity of 
landscape. Here are forests, and fish, rich soils, 
coals and minerals in inexhaustible supply. Here 
is the paradise of lumbermen, fishermen, fruit- 
growers, market-gardeners and dairymen ; here are 
wheat fields and hop gardens for millions. 

Henceforth those who visit Europe without see- 
ing the Columbia River, Puget Sound and Alaska, 
will be classed with 100,000 in Buffalo who have 
never seen the Avorld-renowned cataract of Niagara. 

The Cascade Mountains traverse Washington, 



400 TRA VELS. 

and Oregon, derived from a Spanish word which 
means " wild thyme ", north and south, broken 
only by the Columbia River, which forms a boun- 
dary between the two states. In the division west 
of the Cascade, beginning at Portland, and extend- 
ing south for 150 miles, is the rich valley of the 
Willamette, fifty miles wide. Portland, no miles 
from the Pacific, a city of 60,000 people, situated 
near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia 
Rivers, is the metropolis of the fertile valleys of 
these great rivers. From the summit of Mt. Hood, 
north and south are seen a score of peaks, from ten 
to fifteen thousand feet high, mantled with perpet- 
ual snows. Mt. St. Helen, Mt. Adams, Mt. Tacoma, 
and Mt. Baker are all single snow monoliths. To 
the south, 250 miles is famous Mt. Shasta, supposed 
to be the highest of all these giants of the skies. 
Engineers estimate that the volume of water dis- 
charged by the Columbia River equals that of the 
Mississippi. It averages two miles in width for 
three hundred miles. It passes a little to the west 
of Spokane Falls, the metropolis of eastern Wash- 
ington, and a vast mining region. To the northwest 
lies Puget Sound. 

In Oregon and Washington, west of the Cascade 
Range are prodigious supplies of timber, practically 
inexhaustible, a hundred billion feet or more. 
Millions of acres will yield from 50,000 to 200,000 
feet per acre. There are miles of forests where the 
ground could not give room for the cordwood of 
trees felled and worked up. The area of dense 



TRAVELS. 401 

forests Is twice the size of Iowa. The yellow and 
red fir, or Oregon Pines, and the white and red 
cedar, reach twelve or more feet in diameter and 
are three hundred feet high. The logs are largely 
clear-stuff, and are used for ship timbers, masts, 
deck planks, flooring, siding or railway construc- 
tion. Lloyds, the English ship-builders report, 
"We find the red firs the best wood in the world." 
The cedar shingles are unequaled. The output of 
lumber from the Columbia River and Puget Sound 
districts is not far from 1,000,000,000 feet annually. 
In old Tacoma, four miles south of Tacoma, on 
Puget Sound is the oldest bell-tower on the Conti- 
nent. It dates back prior to the discovery of 
America. This ivy-covered and stately trunk, 
sixty feet high, supports the cross, and every Sab- 
bath its bell notes awaken to duty the people of a 
sleepy village. 

" Here wrought by nature's hand alone, 
More picturesque than chiseled stone, 
A sylvan belfry stood. 

A fir tree's trunk the shaft supplied, 
And nestling quaintly by its side, 
Behold the house of prayer." 

Nearby is being built new Tacoma, the " City 
of Destiny ", with a population of 25,000. It is the 
western terminus of the Northern Pacific, under 
whose liberal patronage it has sprung into promi- 
nence as if by magic. Tacoma is built on a series 
of terraces which look down on Commencement 



402 TRA VELS. 

Bay, at the head of Puget Sound. The recent 
tunneling of the Rocky and Cascade Mountains 
(1887) allowed direct and easy communication 
between the Orient and Occident. Here at the 
terminus of tide-water and a system of railways, 
ships and trains exchange their passengers and 
freight. Here naturally come teas from China, and 
the product of forests, mines, and rich soil of a 
vast inland empire. Here last year the stumps of 
huge fir trees gave place to a thousand new houses 
and blocks. Its grand hotel. The Tacoma, is one 
of the best home-like hostelries in America. From 
its broad piazza one beholds an incomparable 
scene of sea, woodland, and matchless mountains 
east and north. 

Seattle, (1852) and Tacoma are rivals for the 
proud position of the metropolis of the northwest. 
Seattle' forty miles north of Tacoma, is situated on 
the east shore of Puget Sound. The large lakes 
Union and Washington, form the eastern boundary 
of the city. On this strip of high land facing a 
commodious harbor, live 25,000 people of unbounded 
energy. The sound and lakes have been connected 
by ship-canal, cable and electric roads. The rail- 
way patronage that fell into the lap of her rival 
only redoubled her own self-reliance for the mastery. 
However, on June 6th, 1889, ^^ half past two in the 
afternoon, the fire-fiend began the devastation of 
this proud Queen City. At sunset, twenty millions 
of property in the heart of Seattle was reduced to 
ashes. Tacoma, her old rival remembered that: 



TRAVELS. 403 

" The quality of mercy is not strained ; 

It falleth as the gentle rain from heaven 
Upon the earth beneath ; it is twice blessed ; 
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." 

The Tacoma Relief Committee immediately sub- 
scribed thousands of dollars, and despatched a ship 
laden with provisions in charge of her best citizens. 
The Seattle men, possessing the " indomitable w^ill 
and courage never to submit or yield ", will re- 
construct a new Seattle fairer than the one of June 
5th, 1889. 

Matchless Mt. Tacoma lies fifty miles southeast 
from Tacoma. Her rival, Seattle, called it Mt. 
Ranier. So generous and helpful were the citizens of 
Tacoma at the time of the Seattle fire, that the 
mayor of the latter city said he was willing to relin- 
quish forever to the city of Tacoma all Seattle's 
right and title to this famous mountain. Forty 
miles in circumference at the base, Tacoma ascends, 
a solitary volcanic peak, above the snow-clad foot 
hills 5400 feet ; then 8200 feet higher it rises, a total of 
14,440 feet above the tide water in which it mirrors 
itself. A few daring adventurers have visited its 
great glaciers, and photographed its steaming crater- 
Senator Edmunds of Vermont, pronounced Mt. 
Tacoma finer than any peak of the Alps. 

Tacoma is kingly indeed, when the ruddy glow 
of a setting sun adds golden embroidery to his 
heavy ermine robes. The view from the summit of 
Tacoma is one of unsurpassed grandeur, and includes 
in its range a greater number of gigantic forests, 



404 TRA VELS. 

mighty rivers, emerald valleys, vast mountain 
chains and lofty peaks, spires and roofs of growing 
cities, than any other mountain O'. the New World. 
To the northeast is seen the blue waters of glorious 
Puget Sound, the " Mediterranean of the Pacific ". 
It has 1594 miles of most irregular tide-water line, 
without shoals, and fringed with grand fir, cedar 
and spruce. Wooded islands dot its surface, and 
vessels can lie at anchor anywhere in perfect safety. 
Admiral Charles Wilkes says ** Waters equal to 
Puget Sound are possessed by no other nation ". 
Near the British boundary is Mt. Baker, two miles 
high and radiant with eternal snow. The city of 
Vancouver is the tide-water terminus of the Cana- 
dian Pacific Railway. Port Townsend is our Port 
of Entry through Admiralty Inlet, which leads into 
all the waters of the Sound. The Straits of Fuca, 
the New World's Gateway, are twenty miles wide 
and sixty long. Victoria, the capital of British 
Columbia, is on the southern end of Vancouver's 
Island, which is 300 miles long. 

On the south shore of Fuca Straits stand the 
Olympic Mountains, all in line like soldiers for 
inspection, or on guard, while in majestic isolation 
are Mts. Tacoma and Baker reviewing the parade, 
Mt. Baker is Uncle Sam's northwest boundary 
stone. Above all its comrades towers Mt. Olympus. 
The Olympic group of mountains produce a fine 
effect against the blue sky, and constitute a land of 
mystery — a neutral ground, and held sacred. Here, 
long ago peace was enshrined, and warriors of dif- 



TRAVELS, 405 

ferent tribes gathered every year to engage in 
friendly strife, in feats of skill, strength and courage, 
akin to the Olympic Games of the Greeks. To-day 
where wild beasts, elk and deer roam in the valleys 
undisturbed, red men and white men share alike a 
tradition of terrible convulsions along the lofty 
peaks, 

Puget Sound abounds in fish. Salmon, halibut 
and a variety of cod, including the true cod, *' fit 
food for gods and men," sturgeon that weigh looo 
pounds, delicate smelt, herring and candle fish, 
oysters, clams and scallops all are plentiful. Such 
myriads of trout and graylings inhabit the creeks, 
rivers and crystal lakes, mountain-born and snow- 
fed, all gamy and eager enough for the bait to make 
a real disciple of Izaak Walton question whether he 
ever fished before. Game large and small is also 
abundant. Nearly three hundred species of birds 
are in the State, among the larger, the eagle, bald 
and golden. Many birds are game. There are 
forty-one kinds of fur-bearing animals, including 
the grizzly, black, brown and cinnamon and Alas- 
kan bear, panther, elk and several kinds of deer, 
pheasant, grouse, quail and snipe of unusual size; 
wild swan are numerous and jack rabbits are said to 
be a pest. 

The hop fields of Puyallup Valley and the North- 
west are a pretty sight. Hops are planted in 
straight rows, five feet apart, like corn. The poles 
are sixteen feet high, and of sawed cedar. Up these 
the vines encircle, and the light green hops hang in 



406 TRA VELS, 

thick bunches. The best soil is the alluvial deposits 
of river bottoms. The average yield is a ton (21 ii 
pounds) per acre, although in the White River Val- 
ley 5000 pounds have been gathered from a single 
acre. The quality is equal to the best grade raised 
in New York. The crop of 1865 was one bale; of 
1888, 50,000 bales. The average price is 23 cents; 
the cost of raising eight cents — a handsome profit. 
Indians and whites pick the hops. The fun that is 
in it draws many boys and girls to the hop fields, and 
under the harvest moon the after-supper frolics and 
hop-dances lead to merry making and matches for 
life. 

A frontier cottage built under a volcanic ledge 
overlooking Spokane Falls, in eastern Washington, 
before the terrible fire of the summer of 1889, in- 
vites you to enter. At the left a Japanese parasol 
shields dainty maidens from scorching rays of mid- 
day sun. The owner is a prosperous banker, who 
built this structure for a barn. With few artistic 
modifications the economical cashier concludes that 
the barn is quite good enough for his contented 
family. The outlook is superb over a vast extent of 
pine-clad hills, and mountains rich with minerals. In 
the foreground is Spokane Falls, a city of 25,000, 
and a water power larger than that which has /nade 
Minneapolis so successful. The river divided by 
islands into three distinct streams, pours its flood 
over a chasm 65 feet high, into a common basin, 
representing a force of 216,000 horsepower ; that of 
St. Anthony Falls is only 135,000. 




ST. PETER'S CHAPEL, TACOMA, WASHINGTON. 



TRAVELS. 407 

The interior of the cottage is no less attractive 
than the exterior. Here is every evidence of cul- 
ture and refinement. And why not civilization in 
the Far West ? The East has sent West her bra- 
vest boys and girls and sustains their efforts with 
counsel and money. California, Oregon and Wash- 
ington are very proud of their public school sys^ 
terns, their seminaries, colleges and universities; 
already the Coast possesses clearly defined '' ele- 
ments of empire." 

Mt. Shasta, a cloud-like shaft, and overtowering 
in its grandeur, ia^.a^a, feet high, the Monarch of 
Mountains, is situated in Northern California on the 
California and Oregon Railway, 434 miles south of 
Portland, and 250 miles north of Sacramento. Half 
its slope is of evergreen and half of snow^ At Sis- 
son, a regular dining station at the base of the moun- 
tain, the acme of interest is reached. Shasta, alone 
in its white, silent majesty, is one of the most won- 
derful mountains in the world. It has several 
extinct volcanic peaks or craters. Only a few par- 
ties in mid-summer have succeeded in scaling its 
height, whence the views over Northern California 
are extensive and sublime. Shasta's glaciers feed 
hundreds of streams which thread the wild region 
in every direction. Here the Sacramento River 
has its birth. The ride down this dashing moun- 
tain stream is most exciting. In swift succession 
you pass narrow canons and gorges lined with 
tangled vines, trees and flowers, past cascades and 
waterfalls that would delight artists, on through 



408 TRA VELS. 

ever widening valleys, over hills and plains till you 
reach orchards, vineyards, great wheat fields, and 
finally Sacramento, capital of our Italy. 

The capitol building of Sacrannento, is one of the 
best of its kind in the United States. It is located 
in the heart of the city, and was a gift to the 
State by Mr. D. O. Mills. The grounds adorned 
with trees, shrubs and flowers cover eighteen blocks. 
The dome is beautiful and the outlook over the 
wide fertile valley is an incentive indeed to till the 
soil to get rich. Orange and other fruits ripen in 
the Sacramento Valley a month earlier than in 
Southern California, because they have in the 
Valley sixty-nine days more of sunshine. 

Sacramento is ninety miles from San Francisco, 
and connected with that city by six trains daily, also 
by several lines of steamers. The city is on the left 
bank of the Sacramento River in the midst of rich 
agricultural country, and being the geographical 
center naturally has become a great distributing 
point. Three-fourths of all the fruit shipped out of 
the State are sent from this city. Far and wide 
grow apples, cherries, grapes, Bartlett pears, prunes, 
olives and figs. Inland and north it escapes the 
cold, penetrating winds of the ocean, and the hot 
blasts of the Southern Counties. Usually the 
nights are so cool that blankets are comfortable. 

Live oaks dot the country and you seem to be 
journeying through an enormous park. The sweet 
almond tree thrives in many parts of California. It 
resembles the peach tree, and yields a fine crop in 



TRAVELS. 409 

four years, and the nuts sell for a good price. The 
English walnut followed the Englishman to 
America, and those that grow on the Coast are 
not excelled. A crop of seventeen acres sold for 
$2700. The cost of caring for the orchard was $87, 
of gathering the nut was $200, leaving a profit of 
$141.94 per acre. Plum-puddings and nuts for 
Thanksgiving and Christmas in California are 
cheap. 

At Monterey, queen of American watering places, 
five hours or 125 miles south of San Francisco on 
the Pacific Coast, is found one of the most romantic 
of old Spanish towns. East of Monterey, in the 
midst of stately oaks, pines and cedars, stands 
Hotel Del Monte, modern Gothic, over a hundred 
feet in width, nearly four hundred feet in length, 
with annexes and quite five hundred rooms. The 
furnishing throughout , is luxuriant, and the table 
bountiful and appetizing. From the windows are 
seen a hundred acres of lawn and flowers ; roses, 
violets and heliotropes load the air with perfume. 
Here the delicate pansies bloom as cheerily in 
December as in May. 

Monterey welcomes you all the year round. The 
grounds offer constant surprises, wide walks, restful 
seats, croquet plats, swings, archery and lawn-tennis 
grounds. The diversity of scenery and drives is 
most charming ; ocean, bay, lake, streamlet, moun- 
tains, hills, valleys. The famous seventeen-miles 
drive, takes you by the Bay to Moss Beach, Seal 
Rocks or Cypress Point, with its gnarled trunks and 



41 TRAVELS. 

wealth of golden-green foliage. Pacific Grove 
Retreat or Carmel Mission offer you freedom from 
fashion's follies. Monterey is the Mecca that good 
society seeks. Here the tone of the social atmos- 
phere is more like that in English country mansions. 
With the setting sun, the murmurings of the Pacific 
quiet the weary brain. 

The dome of the Lick Observatory glistens in the 
sunlight on the top of Mt. Hamilton, at an altitude 
of 4,443 ft., fifty miles southeast of San Francisco, 
and twenty-six miles east of San Jose, county seat 
of the famous Santa Clara County. It is the pro- 
perty of the California University, a gift, costing 
$700,000, from James Lick, a wealthy merchant of 
San Jose. The magnificent winding road that leads 
to Mt. Hamilton cost Santa Clara County $100,000. 
The summit enjoys a cloudless sky the entire year, 
an unbroken horizon, while its latitude is favorable 
for most important observations. The dome, 75 
feet in diameter, is made of steel plates and weighs 
122 tons. 

The great Lick Telescope was completed in 1888. 
It is the largest and most powerful refracting 
telescope in the world. On the cast-iron rectangular 
column weighing 20 tons rests the head, four tons 
more, in which is journaled the steel Polar Axis ; 
this and the Declination Axis weigh 5000 pounds. 
The tube four feet in diameter, is 57 feet long 
and weighs five tons. The tube, adjusted on a star, 
is made to follow it by means of a clock weighing 
one ton. The object glass is 36 inches clear 



TRAVELS, 411 

aperture. The magnifying power ranges from 180 
to 3,000 diameters. Access to the balcony is gained 
by a spiral stair-case. The astronomer is able by a 
perfected system of wheels to adjust easily this 
instrument of 40 tons, so as to unfold the teachings 
of the solar world, and the stars of the Universe. 

This wonderful telescope is adapted to spectro- 
scopic, photographic and micrometric work. It may 
have startling revelations in store for its friends. 

The gold hunters of 1849 discovered besides 
precious metals, luscious grapes growing on vines, 
imported from Spain by the Franciscan Fathers, a 
hundred years before. The Mission Grape makes 
good brandy, it is said, but it will not compare with 
a hundred other varieties which Yankee enterprise, 
aided by foreigners, have introduced for table use, 
wine and raisin culture. Great care is exercised to 
select the soil best adapted for the several varieties 
of grapes. Rich loam with a subsoil of clay is de 
sirable. Irrigation is often necessary. Already 
thousands of miles of public lands and ditches have 
been built. When possible artesian wells and 
windmills are employed. The counties of Fresno 
and Los Angeles have become grape growing centers. 
California has nearly 200,000 acres of vineyards ; 
three-fourths of this area consist of wine varieties. 
$100,000,000 of capital anc 60,000 persons are 
employed. South of Los Angeles is the great 
Nadean vineyard of 2250 acres, Mission, Zinfandel 
and other kinds. The 1887-88 yield was 500,000 
gallons of wine and 100,000 gallons of brandy. 



412 TRAVELS. 

These same old miners of " Forty-nine " discov- 
ered that the grapes left on the vines, changed in- 
to most delicious raisins, like those of Spain and 
Portugal. Most persons know that raisins are 
made from grapes, but few can tell how. The 
white Muscatels, Malagas, and Sultanas, yield from 
three to thirteen tons per acre. The bunches of 
white grapes, two to five pounds each, are allowed 
to dry on the hot sand between the rows, or in pine 
or redwood trays, for some weeks till the juice is 
evaporated, and the skin is changed to rich purple. 
The sugar we see coating the raisin comes from the 
juice of bruised grapes. Three and a half pounds 
of grapes make a pound of raisins. The cost is six 
or seven cents per pound. The boxes labeled 
*' London Layers," hold five, fifteen, or twenty 
pounds of as good raisins as can ever be produced. 
The average price per box is $i.6o, or for the hun- 
dred boxes, an average production per acre $i6o. 
A car holds a thousand boxes. Fresno exported 
in 1889, 349 car-loads or 349,000 boxes of raisins. 
In 1882 we imported from Europe 3,000,000 boxes 
(33,000 tons) costing our people $6,000,000. So 
flattering are the results of grape culture in Cali- 
fornia, that very soon, this single state will produce 
all the raisins our citizens can consume. 

The Umbrella Tree, beautiful in branches and 
foliage, is much used for shade. In America high 
prices of both the fig and olive have prevented their 
general use as is the case in ancient countries. 
Travelers in Asia Minor and Southern Europe use 



TRAVELS, 413 

figs and olives on long journeys and thrive. Both 
figs and olives are very nutritious. Eight million 
pounds of figs come annually from Smyrna and else- 
where to the United States. So it becomes an im- 
portant article of commerce. But one of the most 
valuable trees known to man is the olive. Olive and 
fig orchards yield from $500 to $1000 per acre. 
French prunes also do well on the Coast. Alfalfa a 
specie of clover, has proven a gold mine to farmers 
of the Coast. It is grown in moist sections, or low 
lands, and often it requires irrigation. The roots 
extend to great depths. Alfalfa is cut six times a 
year, yielding two tons to the acre at each cutting. 
Horses, cows, mules, hogs, and poultry thrive on 
it. 

It is not strange that bees thrive in a land of 
perpetual bloom. The total product of honey, in 
comb and extracted, for 1888, was 3,3CX),ooo pounds. 
Mr. Harbison's bee farm in San Diego in a single 
year produced from 2,000 hives 150,000 pounds of 
honey, worth $30,000. In Scotland, when summer 
flowers are gone, the people take their hives in 
carts to the purple heather on the mountains. 

Bee keeping is carried on largely in Russia, 
because peasants use honey instead of butter, and 
the churches require great numbers of wax tapers. 
The city of Pultowa alone has 5,000,000 hives. 
Each hive has a queen, workers and drones. If 
from increase in spring they swarm, the old queen 
goes with the new swarm. If two queens appear in 
a swarm they divide, or the queens fight to death 



414 TRAVELS. 

for supremacy. A queen's life is three or four years. 
For several weeks in the season she lays 2000 eggs 
a day. If she dies, a long cell is built and the 
larvae fed and nourished into a queen. Often 
queens are brought in little boxes from Germany 
or Italy to this Republic, and swarms are thus 
improved and increased. In June, July and August 
all drones are killed ; the workers live only for a 
few weeks. The habits of bees are an interesting 
study. 

Los Angeles, '* City of Angels," has sprung in a 
few brief years to be the '' Metropolis of Southern 
California/' It is 482 miles from San Francisco, 
and can be reached by rail or steamer. It is the 
terminus of three Southern Over-land routes, the 
home of culture and refinement. The area of the 
justly celebrated climate of Southern California is 
limited largely to the coast line in the form of a 
segment of an arc, from Point Conception, Santa 
Barbara County to San Diego. Mountains north, 
and Islands along the coast shield several lovely 
valleys from cold winds, and an ocean eddy brings 
to this coast warm waters from the South. From 
the mountains come invigorating atmosphere, the 
desert sends a pure dry air, and the sea contributes 
daily breezes, a tonic fresh and bracing. The air 
is warm, sweet, and delicious. Here semi-tropical 
fruits, and rare exotics grow in open air the winter 
through, strawberries ripen every month in the 
year, and radiant butterflies constantly flit among 
ever-blooming flowers. No wonder that invalids 




GIANT CACTUS. 



TRAVELS, 415 

and tourists crowd to this land of perpetual summer, 
and soft Italian skies, when one can live out of 
doors 340 days out of the year, in mellow sunlight. 

'' Where a leaf never dies in the still blooming bowers, 
And the bee banquets on thro' a whole year of flowers," 
******* 

*' Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows, 
And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose," 

The Cacti on the Mojave desert and in Southern 
California are numerous and of great variety. The 
hot sands blossom with bright red and yellow cacti 
among Yucca palms all along the railway from 
Mojave over the mountains. The eye often rests 
with pleasure on the tall white and plume-like 
bayonet palm. There are probably a thousand 
varieties, nipple, hedge hog, prickly pear, torch, 
thistle and other cacti in North and South Amer- 
ica. Some are from twenty to thirty feet high. 
One variety furnishes the cochineal of commerce. 
The Kew Gardens exhibit a cactus that weighs a 
ton. The Spanish Americans plant some varieties 
for fences about their homes. Certain kinds contain 
an insipid but wholesome fluid for drink, and it is 
often used as a cooling drauoht in fevers. 

An orange grove exercises a powerful influence 
upon visitors and settlers from the East. There 
are few more attractive sights in nature than a well 
kept orange orchard, with its golden globes half 
hidden in the glossy dark green foliage, and white, 
fragrant blossoms. Oranges will grow in most of 
the counties of Central and Southern California, 



4^6 TRAVELS. 

but the test of citrus conditions depends upon the 
quality of its color and flavor. Often wide avenues 
lead to orange orchard homes. These avenues 
are frequently flanked by towering Yucca palms, 
alternating with huge century plants, while in 
reserve are long hedges of blooming roses or calla 
lilies. Last season Southern California shipped 
fifteen hundred cars of oranges. Great care is 
exercised in picking, sorting and packing the fruit. 
Usually the buyers purchase the fruit on the trees, 
and gather and ship to market. Quite recently the 
navel orange, which by a strange freak of nature is 
freed from seeds, has taken a front rank in favor 
and price. As much as $800 an acre has been 
realized from full bearing orange orchards. Much 
interest is also taken in the culture of lemons 
and limes. The lemons quite equal those from 
Sicily. 

Another industry is ostrich farming. Formerly 
ostriches were shot for their plumage, and it was 
not till 1867 that taming them was attempted. 
Now there are large ostrich farms in California and 
in Africa. From Cape Colony $40,000,000 worth of 
feathers are exported yearly. The birds are some- 
times eight feet high and weigh three hundred 
pounds — are very timid except when hatching their 
young, when they become savage and will some- 
times kill a man. Several females lay a dozen or 
more eggs in a shallow pit scraped out by their 
feet. The male sits on the eggs at night, and the 
females take turns during the day. Great numbers 



TRAVELS, 417 

are now hatched artificially. The feathers are 
plucked every six months. 

A rose clad cottage meets you at almost every 
turn in this paradise, where roses bloom every 
month in the year. Christmas and New Year's 
bouquets, plucked fresh from out-door gardens for 
gifts, contain pink camelias, calla lilies, tube roses, 
trailing arbutus, pansies, heliotropes, carnations, 
La Marque and La France roses, and *' cloth of 
gold " roses. Frequently a basket of mid-winter 
strawberries contains a card " Merry Christmas " or 
*' Happy New Year." The season in Los Angeles 
and San Gabriel Valleys begins when you arrive. In 
vain you look for winter. If in December you see 
it on the tops of the Sierras white with snow, at Pa- 
sadena you see the ground white with orange blos- 
soms. Every door-yard has its carnival of flowers. 
Here are the banana, cocoanut, pomegranite, fan 
and sago palm, cork and rubber trees, and Yucca 
and century plant, side by side with pines, spruce, 
and large and small fruits found in Northern States. 
Christmas is the height of the season, when the 
drives are gay with equipages, and the huntsman's 
horn rises on the wind, and the mocking bird sings 
at midnight. 

The peaceful Pacific bids us halt. Our American 
Italy has fifteen hundred miles of safe harbor and 
sandy beach, where the playful seal waits for the 
coming commerce of China, Japan and the islands 
of the sea, driven hither by spice laden breezes. 
America's Italy abounds in towering, snow-mantled 



41 S TRAVELS. 

mountains, heaven-born waterfalls and gigantic 
trees. She possesses all the minerals known to 
geology, all the fruits and flowers between equator 
and poles, all climates known to the universe. She 
has added a thousand millions of gold to the world's 
wealth. Her ships go forth to the ends of the 
earth ladened with gold and grain, with cattle and 
corn, with oranges and oil, and wood and wine. 
America's Italy invites the world to her table that 
all may live. 

"The elements of empire, here. 
Are plastic yet and warm ; 
The chaos of a mighty world 
Is rounding into form," 



NOV 18 1333 



